Starling Days
Published on 7. April 2020
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-4197-4359-7 (ISBN)
Description
The moving new novel by the author of Harmless Like You, a New York Times Book Review Editors&; Choice and NPR Great Read
On their first date, Mina told Oscar that she was bisexual, vegetarian, and on meds. He married her anyhow. A challenge to be met. She had low days, sure, but manageable. But now, maybe not so much . . . Mina is standing on the George Washington Bridge late at night, staring over the edge, when a patrol car drives up. She tries to convince the policeman she&;s not about to jump, but he doesn&;t believe her. Oscar is called to pick her up.
With the idea of leaving New York for London&;a place for Mina &;to learn the floorplan of this sadness&;&;Oscar arranges a move. In London, Mina, a classicist, tries grappling with her mental health issues by making lists. Of WOMEN WHO SURVIVED&;Penelope, Psyche, Leda. Iphigenia, but only in one of the tellings. Of things that make her HAPPY&;enamel coffee cups. But what else? She at last finds a beam of light in Phoebe, and friendship and attraction blossom until Oscar and Mina&;s complicated love is tested.
A gorgeously wrought novel, variously about love, mythology, mental illness, Japanese beer, and the times we need to seek out milder psychological climates, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan&;s Starling Days&;written in exquisite prose rich with lightly ironic empathy&;is a complex and compelling work of fiction by a singularly gifted young writer.
On their first date, Mina told Oscar that she was bisexual, vegetarian, and on meds. He married her anyhow. A challenge to be met. She had low days, sure, but manageable. But now, maybe not so much . . . Mina is standing on the George Washington Bridge late at night, staring over the edge, when a patrol car drives up. She tries to convince the policeman she&;s not about to jump, but he doesn&;t believe her. Oscar is called to pick her up.
With the idea of leaving New York for London&;a place for Mina &;to learn the floorplan of this sadness&;&;Oscar arranges a move. In London, Mina, a classicist, tries grappling with her mental health issues by making lists. Of WOMEN WHO SURVIVED&;Penelope, Psyche, Leda. Iphigenia, but only in one of the tellings. Of things that make her HAPPY&;enamel coffee cups. But what else? She at last finds a beam of light in Phoebe, and friendship and attraction blossom until Oscar and Mina&;s complicated love is tested.
A gorgeously wrought novel, variously about love, mythology, mental illness, Japanese beer, and the times we need to seek out milder psychological climates, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan&;s Starling Days&;written in exquisite prose rich with lightly ironic empathy&;is a complex and compelling work of fiction by a singularly gifted young writer.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
450 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4197-4359-7 (9781419743597)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2020
Abrams
€17.49
Available for download
Person
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is an American and British writer. She received her BA from Columbia and her MFA from University of Wisconsin&;Madison. Her first novel, Harmless Like You, was a New York Times Editors&; Choice and NPR Great Read. Her work has appeared in Granta, Guernica, the Guardian, and the Paris Review.