At once, the novel becomes a searing war story and a page-turning thriller.” Her best friend, Megan, disappears mysteriously, and her beloved brother, Billy, comes home from Vietnam severely injured. The smooth path of Nell’s life is interrupted by tragedy.

“ … one of the great pleasures of reading A Catalog of Birds is that it’s as impossible to categorize as it is to put down. “A sensitive rendering of shattered lives.” “Stunning natural descriptions provide a rich backdrop for Harrington’s beautifully articulated coming-of-age story, which captures the pain of loved ones grappling with the after effects of war.” Illuminated by heartbreak and promise, the novel is alive with spirit and wonder and hope for the future. Laura Harrington has written a tale of forgiveness, of ourselves, and those we love. The legacy of war and its destruction of nature is seared onto the memories of a small American town. Nell, a brilliant student headed for a career in science, will do all that’s possible to save him.Ī Catalog of Birds is the story of a family and a community confronted with a loss of innocence and wounds that may never heal. His wounds have crippled his ability to even hold a pencil and his hearing loss has cut him off from the natural world. In his absence, the woman he loves has mysteriously disappeared. A year later he is the only survivor when his helicopter is shot down.Ī wounded Billy returns home to his family in upstate New York, especially to Nell, his adoring younger sister. It’s 1970 and he cannot resist the call to serve in Vietnam.

An attractive young man, a patriot, he is also an artist with pencil and paint and has an abiding affinity for nature. Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington is a moving story of family, love and how those left behind carry on.Billy Flynn always wanted to fly. Read more case, falling for the boy next door – but then they’re told that he’s missing in action and have to face up to the fact that he may never return. She and her mother negotiate his absence as best they can – waiting impatiently for his letters, throwing themselves into school and work respectively, bickering intermittently and, in Alice’s.

She also idolizes her father, and when he leaves home to fight a war she doesn’t believe in, Alice is distraught. Not afraid to stand up for the things she believes in. And then some’ Look Alice Bliss is fifteen. ‘This story of friendship, love, grief and growing up will yank on the heartstrings. Good clean copy with some minor shelf wear. A heartbreaking story of love, loss and grief. Description for Life & Times of Alice Bliss Paperback.