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'Fans of Elizabeth Strout and Anne Tyler will devour it.' - Daily MirrorDarkly witty, deeply moving - Jackie Polzin's
Brood is a startlingly original debut novel about motherhood, marriage and grief, full of sorrow, joy and unrelenting hope.
Over the course of a single year, our nameless narrator heroically tries to keep her small brood of four chickens alive despite the seemingly endless challenges that caring for another creature entails - and all the while struggling to confront her own recent loss. From the forty-below nights of a brutal Minnesota winter to a sweltering summer which brings a surprise tornado, she battles predators, bad luck, and the uncertainty of a future that may not look anything like the one she always imagined.
'Full of surprise, humor, grief, and wisdom.' - Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves'The most vibrant and compelling slice of life I've been privy to in a great while.' - Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had'Splendidly unsentimental, quirky, witty, smart and a complete one-off.' - Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures
About the author
Jackie Polzin lives in St Paul, Minnesota with her husband and children.
Summary
In Brood, a stunning new voice depicts one woman’s attempt to keep her four chickens alive while reflecting on a recent loss of a miscarriage.
Foreword
In Brood, a stunning new voice depicts one woman’s attempt to keep her four chickens alive while reflecting on a recent loss of a miscarriage.
Additional text
What pleasant alchemy is this novel? Polzin’s debut conjures humors and sadness in Minnesota, where the narrator ponders the potential of motherhood, a pending move, and the strangeness of raising animals who force us to consider the world in a new, slower, sideways perspective (which leads us to wonder: maybe the strangeness is us?).
