Birdie

By Nuala O'Connor

Birdie by Nuala O'Connor - a collection of sixteen historical flash fictions

 

Love is the central force in Birdie, a collection of sixteen historical and out-of-time flash fictions that sing with the voices of women loving and losing and learning. The characters here find strength, despite the sorrows of death and deceit: a ghost-child returns to Massachusetts to comfort her grieving mother; the daughter of a Spanish orange tycoon regrets her mother's terrible choices; an English maid longs for, but can't be with, her mistress's son.

Birdie contains O'Connor's signature ekphrastic work, drawing on artists as diverse as Matisse, da Vinci, and American painter Edwin Romanzo Elmer. The natural world looms large too: sheep and foxes roam these pages, as much as seawater washes through them.

Described by the Toronto Star as a writer of 'magical imagination' and by the Washington Post as 'soaring', O'Connor's collection of historical flash will delight her readers, old and new.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bowen Day
• Release date: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393621010

Nuala O'Connor

Nuala O’Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1970. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, she is a novelist and short story writer, and lives in County Galway with her husband and three children. Nuala has won many prizes for her short fiction including the Short Story Prize in the UK and Ireland’s Francis MacManus Award. She is editor at flash e-zine Splonk.

Book preview

birdie

birdie

reddog

eleanor’s last

menagerie

ébauche, esquisse, étude, tableau

american wake

pearl

aquarium

la gioconda claims her name

the day léopoldine hugo was lost

snowdrops

sappho’s apple

naranjito’s daughter

mourning becomes shelburne falls

the forgotten front

hulda’s tears

acknowledgements

birdie

~ flash fiction ~

nuala o’connor

Copyright © 2020 by Nuala Ní Chonchúir

birdie has received financial assistance from the Arts Council.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed ‘Attention: Permissions Coordinator’ at the address below.

Jacket photograph: Floradora Goose held by Miss Isla Bevan, 1930. Underwood & Underwood. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

First e-book edition August 2020

Published by:

bowen day press

Mountpleasant Avenue

Ballinasloe H53 R970

Co. Galway

Ireland

www.nualaoconnor.com

Book design: Nuala Ní Chonchúir and Finbar McLoughlin

ISBN : 978-1-393-62101-0

praise for nuala o’connor’s short fiction

'[A] blending of wry, caustic irreverence and meditative poignancy is central to the success of O’Connor’s storytelling. The mix is just right: the internal monologues are exactly as long as they need to be; the humour is well-timed and effective. The dramatic moments, of which there are a fair few ... are rendered with unobtrusive deftness.' The Irish Times

‘...the prose is measured and graceful, rich with delectable turns of phrase and vivid descriptions that seem to paralyse time.’ The Irish Examiner

‘O’Connor likes to tease our imaginations. Her narrators are not always reliable. She likes small incidents and sotto voces to scream from the page. Her shock tactics are coolly measured, clad