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Paint the Bird Audiobook
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The Reverend Sarah Obadias is broken, bitter, and stripped of the reassurance of faith when she walks into a West Village restaurant in Manhattan. Here she encounters Abraham Darby, a rumpled but well-regarded painter who seduces the minister into his life of excess and emotional intensity. "I've run away from my life," Sarah tells him. "I know," Darby replies. "Take mine." But for Sarah, each day with the artist will bring a new reality—or lack of it.
Dancing through the novel is the mystical Yago, the gay son of Darby and the Costa Rican painter Alejandra Morales Díaz. But Alejandra's appearance further discomposes Sarah, and Yago provides no calm or clarity when she encounters him: "Somehow he has transported her to an unfamiliar state of mindless eroticism. Finally she draws closer to Yago, intending to caress him in some horrible mix of mothering and lust."
Bloodlines become squiggled and unreliable as the novel explores the ever-changing relationship between fathers and sons and what constitutes a family. Throughout, one question lingers: What really did happen when a small boy was swallowed by the sea?
Laced with humor and a linguistic vibrancy, this tale of converging fates becomes a contemplation of faith, faithfulness, and the sticky, often unpleasant and frightening nature of spiritual and emotional growth.
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“The story reads like a prose poem—emotional significance comes across in the sparsely told daily machinations of the lives of a few intentionally but tenuously connected New Yorkers…Packard weaves a dreamy yet well-paced narrative with richly developed characters who gradually come to discover that life is always going on—whether they’re watching or not.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“Beginning to end, the novel is a deeply poetic meditation ‘about life, about trust. About God. About death’ Brilliantly imagined and rendered.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“Highlighting a unique intersection of the gay, artistic, and religious communities, Packard challenges readers to look closely at their beliefs about death, sexuality, and the constructs of family. Rich descriptions of art and overt sensuality lend beauty to this provocative story of loss and hope.”
— Booklist
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About Georgeann Packard
Georgeann Packard is a writer, graphic designer, and photographer. She also designs and installs gardens on Long Island’s North Fork, where she lives with her family. Her first novel, Fall Asleep Forgetting, was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards in 2010.
About the Narrators
Robin Miles, named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, has twice won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, an Audie Award for directing, and many Earphones Awards. Her film and television acting credits include The Last Days of Disco, Primary Colors, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order, New York Undercover, National Geographic’s Tales from the Wild, All My Children, and One Life to Live. She regularly gives seminars to members of SAG and AFTRA actors’ unions, and in 2005 she started Narration Arts Workshop in New York City, offering audiobook recording classes and coaching. She holds a BA degree in theater studies from Yale University, an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama, and a certificate from the British American Drama Academy in England.
Kirby Heyborne is a musician, actor, and professional narrator. Noted for his work in teen and juvenile audio, he has garnered over twenty Earphones Awards. His audiobook credits include Jesse Kellerman’s The Genius, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and George R. R. Martin’s Selections from Dreamsongs.