The Evening Chorus

Amid the chaos of World War II, three people find unexpected freedom through their connection to the natural world--from the author of Rabbit Foot Bill.

Downed during his first mission, James Hunter is taken captive as a German POW. To bide the time, he studies a nest of redstarts at the edge of camp. Some prisoners plot escape; some are shot. And then, one day, James is called to the Kommandant's office. Meanwhile, back home, James's new wife, Rose, is on her own, free in a way she has never known. Then, James's sister, Enid, loses everything during the Blitz and must seek shelter with Rose. In a cottage near Ashdown forest, the two women jealously guard secrets, but form a surprising friendship. Each of these characters will find unexpected freedom amid war's privations and discover confinements that come with peace. The Evening Chorus is a beautiful, astonishing examination of love, loss, escape, and the ways in which the intrusions of the natural world can save us.


"The Evening Chorus serenades people brutally marked by war, yet enduring to live -- and relish -- the tiny pleasures of another day. With her trademark prose -- exquisitely limpid -- Humphreys convinces us of the birdlike strength of the powerless." -- Emma Donoghue

"The Evening Chorus sparkles." --Jo Baker

"A poised, lyrical novel about the griefs of war, written with poetic intensity of observation." --Helen Dunmore


About the Author

HELEN HUMPHREYS's novels include several New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Among other awards, she has received the Lambda Prize for fiction and was long-listed for the Dublin Impac. She has written four books of poetry, six novels, and two works of creative nonfiction.