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The Night Birds

ebook
A “luminously written and harrowing” historical saga of three generations of German immigrants to the Midwest (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
 
“Set in the 1860s and ’70s, Maltman’s superb debut evokes a Midwest lacerated by clashes between European and Native American, slaveowner and abolitionist, killer and healer, nature and culture. Asa Senger, a lonely 14-year-old boy, is at first wary when his father’s sister, Hazel, arrives at his parents’ Minnesota home after a long stay in a faraway asylum, but he comes to cherish the mysterious Hazel’s warmth and company. Through her stories, Asa learns of his family’s bitter past: the lore and dreams of their German forebears, their place in the bitter divide over slavery and, most complex of all, the bond between Hazel and the Dakotan warrior Wanikiya that deepens despite the violence between their peoples. Maltman excels at giving even his most harrowing scenes an understated realism and at painting characters who are richly, sometimes disturbingly, human. The novel sustains its tension right to the moment it ends.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“We all set our sights on the Great American Novel . . . [Thomas Maltman] comes impressively close to laying his hands on the grail.” —The Boston Globe

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Publisher: Soho Press

Kindle Book

  • Release date: July 1, 2018

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781569477687
  • Release date: July 1, 2018

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781569477687
  • File size: 1071 KB
  • Release date: July 1, 2018

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Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

Languages

English

Levels

ATOS Level:6.4
Interest Level:9-12(UG)
Text Difficulty:5

A “luminously written and harrowing” historical saga of three generations of German immigrants to the Midwest (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
 
“Set in the 1860s and ’70s, Maltman’s superb debut evokes a Midwest lacerated by clashes between European and Native American, slaveowner and abolitionist, killer and healer, nature and culture. Asa Senger, a lonely 14-year-old boy, is at first wary when his father’s sister, Hazel, arrives at his parents’ Minnesota home after a long stay in a faraway asylum, but he comes to cherish the mysterious Hazel’s warmth and company. Through her stories, Asa learns of his family’s bitter past: the lore and dreams of their German forebears, their place in the bitter divide over slavery and, most complex of all, the bond between Hazel and the Dakotan warrior Wanikiya that deepens despite the violence between their peoples. Maltman excels at giving even his most harrowing scenes an understated realism and at painting characters who are richly, sometimes disturbingly, human. The novel sustains its tension right to the moment it ends.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“We all set our sights on the Great American Novel . . . [Thomas Maltman] comes impressively close to laying his hands on the grail.” —The Boston Globe

Expand title description text
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.