Grief & Acceptance

Central to the concerns of Other Birds is the examination of grief and the process of healing from it. Each and every character in the novel is haunted by a past trauma or the loss of a person close to them, a detail accentuated by the frequent appearance of ghosts in and around Mallow Island. Zoey struggles to move past the death of her mother, Paloma. Oliver grapples with the difficult relationship that he had with his mother, Lizbeth, in life, and further struggles to comprehend the significance of her passing. Mac mourns the loss of his mentor, Camille. Charlotte fights to escape the memories of her awful childhood, which unfurled in a bleak religious encampment and lead to the death of her best friend. And Frasier, who is also the famous writer Roscoe Avanger, struggles to move beyond a past that he rejects...