Book Description
From the critically acclaimed author of Grace and The Perishing
A young woman is forced to confront the cost of freedom and her own self-actualization in the midst of war—inspired by the true story of the only Black American regiment that landed on the beaches of Normandy
Birds of War opens with Abilee Tillson, a college dropout from central California, pinned down on the sand, dodging enemy fire in the chaos of one of the most brutal battles in history. But how did a Black woman end up on the front lines at World War II’s deadliest hour?
As she fights to survive, her past echoes around her: the love for a father struggling with shell-shock from The Great War; an ailing mother left by the state in the sole care of her too-young daughter; an attempt at higher education thwarted by family’s needs; her enlistment in the war effort. Then a forbidden love affair with a foreign soldier, and the fateful events that placed her on the USS Corry, the first American destroyer sunk on D-Day.
From early California in the 1930s to the run up to war and all that follows, Birds of War is a powerful statement of individual freedom that redefines this moment in history. For Abilee, liberty is not guaranteed by family, a nation, or even military service as a Black woman in wartime America. Can she make peace with the family she left behind, and quiet the wars of her past? Can she learn which battles are worth fighting? And, most urgent of all, can Abilee reconcile everything behind her and still find her way off the beach?
Based on years of research, Birds of War brings to light the hidden and forgotten stories of World War II, told through the eyes of those whose courage was demanded but whose humanity was often denied, in a singular narrative of sacrifice, survival, and enduring love.
Praise For This Book
Praise for Birds of War"It’s like reading a poem. The lyricism, the musicality of it, and the language choices are stunning. As you stay up all night finishing Birds of War—yes, I promise that you, too, will be unable to put down this marvel of a book—you won’t have realized that amidst falling in love with its characters and its sentences that beg to be memorized for their beauty, you yourself will feel more liberated to live the way you want, to stop waiting for permission. That a novel can do so many things suggests that, aside from being one of our greatest living authors, Natashia Deón is also a magician." —Jennifer Pastiloff, New York Times bestselling author of Proof of Life and On Being Human
"Birds of War is exquisite, gripping, tender, and cinematic. It is a novel about war and its costs, family love, loss, and grace. Abilee, the lionhearted heroine who comes of age in a world not made for brown skinned girls like her, is an unforgettable character. Her story will stick to your bones." —Imani Perry, National Book Award Winner, MacArthur Fellow, and author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
“Natashia Deón takes readers on a journey of life, love, and survival. Through Abilee's past and present, Deón shows us what war means in all its forms. There's the chaos of military war, both physical and mental, but also the oft-silenced war of oppressive society, the sacrificial war of familial need, and the reflective war with oneself. Rich in prose and steeped in research, Birds of War reminds readers how to endure, how to live, and to never forget the things in life that matter most.” —Milo Todd, author of The Lilac People
"Birds of War is a tableau of fine art wrapped up in a page-turning, impeccably researched historical tale of love and unforgiving war. Natashia Deón's words captured me from the first page and never let go. I'm still haunted by the bodies in this novel, in their beauty and in their pain. It is rare to find a voice that is at once vulnerable, visceral, and honest, and Deón nails it to perfection. I loved it!"—Elizabeth L. Silver, author of The Majority and The Execution of Noa P. Singleton
“Vivid storytelling that is at once startlingly intimate and historically revealing. Once again Natashia Deón reveals her capacity to depict the nuances of human vulnerability, fallibility, strength, and love.” —Charmaine Wilkerson, author of Good Dirt and Black Cake
Praise for Natashia Deón
"In Natashia Deón’s historical-science-fiction tale . . . Black lives move less like wind and more like water: shifting shape but retaining their essence as they cycle through and bear witness to an American city." —Nicole Acheampong, The Atlantic
“Pick this one up and I promise . . . you will not be able to put it down” —Shay Mitchell, Book of the Month
"Vivid and thrilling." —Annabel Gutterman, Time
"The salient beauty of The Perishing is that [it] grapple[s] with what it is like to be inside bodies in extremis, on the edge of risk. Deón attend[s] to the body as a locus of power or its absence: how bodies relate to objects in space, how they feel, how they are given voice—or not—within a place." —Anita Fellicelli, Alta
