The Night Birds

By Maltman, Thomas

Publishers Summary:
The summer of 1876 feels like the end of the world to fourteen-year-old Asa Senger. Locusts plague the prairie farms; his family is about to lose everything. The Dakota Indians have been banished from Minnesota, yet an aged Indian appears. His father, the sheriff, jails him, counting on a bounty payment, but Asa is somehow compelled to free the old man, and must bear this guilt. The James-Younger gang, preparing to rob Northfield, stops at their farmhouse. What has propelled them into his life? In this time of fear, another mysterious visitor appears, an aunt who has been confined to an asylum for years. His mother wants nothing to do with her; his father welcomes her. Asa learns that his identity is bound up in a lost history, The Great Sioux Uprising, which everyone else wants to forget. Prefigured by the twin ravens Hunin and Munin-Memory and Understanding-from his dead grandfather's treasured Grimm's fairy tales, Asa learns that the past is as close as his own heartbeat. Without understanding that past he can neither know who he is, nor who he may become. Thomas Maltman has published essays, poetry, and fiction. He teaches at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. This is his first novel.

 Not Rated. Be the first to rate this product!

ISBN
978-1-56947-462-4
Publisher
Soho Press


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on April 15, 2007

In his debut novel, Maltman traces the intertwining stories of two generations of the Senger family, who fled sectarian fighting in Civil War-era Missouri to settle on the Minnesota prairie. When Aunt Hazel, long thought dead, is released from the state mental hospital, she brings with her a hidden part of the family history-an account of the family's involvement with the ne...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Become a Pro


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Add To My List

cover
by

This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Export


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Save List Search Query


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.

Follow Lists


This feature is only available to Pro subscribers. Please log in, or upgrade your subscription.