Birds of a Lesser Paradise, by Megan Mayhew Bergman (2012)
A collection of short stories, most of which feature someone at a turning point in their lives, and animals tend to be present (so I was not surprised to read on the book jacket that Mrs. Bergman is married to a veterinarian). The stores are wonderfully crafted – we are quickly introduced to a new character and in a few sentences we begin to see their world clearly – a woman who is driving to visit her dead mother’s parrot in the hopes of hearing her mother’s voice, a woman who returns to the swamps to help her father run a bird-watching tour business, etc. While well written, like so many other short stories, they feel unfinished – each glimpse is like peering into a window before the curtains are pulled shut, leaving the reader wondering what happened next?
