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The Birdcatcher Audiobook
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Publisher Description
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 2022
Publishers Weekly Top 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2022
“Gayl Jones’s work represents a watershed in American literature."
—Imani Perry
Legendary writer Gayl Jones returns with a stunning new novel about Black American artists in exile
Gayl Jones, the novelist Toni Morrison discovered decades ago and Tayari Jones recently called her favorite writer, has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century. Now, for the first time in over 20 years, Jones is publishing again. In the wake of her long-awaited fifth novel, Palmares, The Birdcatcher is another singular achievement, a return to the circles of her National Book Award finalist, The Healing.
Set primarily on the island of Ibiza, the story is narrated by the writer Amanda Wordlaw, whose closest friend, a gifted sculptor named Catherine Shuger, is repeatedly institutionalized for trying to kill a husband who never leaves her. The three form a quirky triangle on the white-washed island.
A study in Black women’s creative expression, and the intensity of their relationships, this work from Jones shows off her range and insight into the vicissitudes of all human nature—rewarding longtime fans and bringing her talent to a new generation of readers.
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"Jones continues her marvelous run after last year’s Pulitzer finalist Palmares with the gloriously demented story of an artist who keeps trying to kill her husband . . . . Jones, implicitly defiant, draws deeply from classic and global literature—a well-placed reference to Cervantes’s windmills leaves the reader’s head spinning. And like one of Amanda’s inventive novels, this one ends on a surprising and playful turn. It ought to be required reading."
— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
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“An intriguing, tightly crafted, and insightful meditation on creativity and complicated friendships.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Jones, implicitly defiant, draws deeply from classic and global literature…This one ends on a surprising and playful turn. It ought to be required reading.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
The remarkable latest release by acclaimed novelist and poet Jones . . . Her prose is captivating, at moments coolly observational and at others profoundly intimate; the delicate balance is the mark of a truly great storyteller. An intriguing, tightly crafted, and insightful meditation on creativity and complicated friendships.
— Booklist, Starred Review -
Jones’ mercurial, often inscrutable body of work delivers yet another change-up to readers’ expectations.
— Kirkus Reviews -
This is a brilliant and unsparing examination of the burdens we place on friendship and marriage, the way that creative genius is misperceived as madness, the clumsy way mental health is addressed, the scourge of racism, and the alchemy of folklore and legacy bound in the secrets we hide.
— Lauren LeBlanc, Boston Globe -
Don’t call it a comeback . . . Gayl Jones continues her resurgence with this novel focused on Black women creatives on Ibiza as one of them continues trying to kill her husband.
— Karla J. Strand, Ms. -
“Gayl Jones constructs a novel that is part mystery, part thriller, and wholly captivating. . . . a shining segment of the American literary canon has been restored.
— Kate Webb, Times Literary Supplement UK -
Brilliant and incendiary, Jones’s pairing of tragedy with dark humor cuts to the bone.
— O. Magazine -
[A novel with] the plush scenery of a travelogue, the misshapen soul of a noir, and the anarchic spirit of a trickster tale.
— The New Yorker -
Wows listeners with characters who are unique and appalling yet captivating.
— AudioFile
Awards
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Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
The Birdcatcher Listener Reviews
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About Gayl Jones
Gayl Jones is the author of several novels and books of poetry, including Corregidora, Eva’s Man, Song for Anninho, and Mosquito. Her work has been widely praised by the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and others. She has taught at Wellesley College and the University of Michigan.
About Adenrele Ojo
Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre’s production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson’s Jitney and Freedom Theatre’s own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.