Forever Blackbirds - by Dian Greenwood (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Told in dual timelines, Forever Blackbirds traverses protagonist Marta Gottlieb's escape from 1914 Russia to her tribulations in rural North Dakota during WWII. Young Marta, now in her mid-forties, begins to question her evangelical faith in the turbulence of mid-century America and another war. Forging her way through the loss of a son, estrangement from her community, and the disquieting reality of a loveless marriage, Marta discovers an indomitable spirit she didn't know she possesses.

Review Quotes

"Forever Blackbirds is told in dual timelines as our narrator, Marta Gottlieb grows from a teenager into her late life. Greenwood deftly writes this important story, pulling at every heartstring and challenging what you may think the immigrant experience is."

-Leslie Johansen Nack, author of The Blue Butterfly

"The beating heart at the center of Forever Blackbirds is Marta, who is 14 years old when she and her family flee a bloody assault on their beloved home in Odessa. Dian Greenwood's powerful immigrant saga takes us inside Marta's psyche as the story alternates between her hard-scrabble existence in North Dakota in the 1940's, and the traumatic arrival on Ellis Island thirty years earlier. Marta's firm faith is tested by life-altering disfigurement, personal tragedy, marital strife, WWII casualties, and inter-generational rifts. When the war ends and women's roles shift, we journey with Marta through her growing realization that all is not determined, that things can change, and that despite shattered dreams, hope and change are possible."

-Gemma Whelan, author of Painting Through the Dark

"A poignant tapestry of love, loss, and reinvention, Forever Blackbirds unravels the story of Marta, a woman facing the brutal realities of war in 1943 and a tumultuous past fleeing Bolsheviks in 1914 Russia. Ensnared in a loveless marriage, Marta confronts the upheavals of war and societal change against shattered dreams of a storybook America. When tragedy strikes, Marta's evolution unfurls. With each turn of the wheel, Marta must struggle to reclaim control over her life in a rapidly changing world. This novel is an absorbing read, told in unflinching detail."

-Maryka Biaggio, award-winning author of Parlor Games, Eden Waits, The Point of Vanishing, and The Model Spy

"With lyrical, stirring prose, Dian Greenwood explores the universality of the human experience in a story about family, faith and the ties that bind. Forever Blackbirds is a thoughtful tale about a matriarch who emigrated to America as a young teen-her choices, struggles, and tragedies-and the powerful role family history plays in molding her and the family she builds. Through well-drawn characters, the author captures how we become our unique selves, muddling through love and relationships, searching for a path forward, striving for a sense of belonging and a belief in something. Sometimes we are able to break free of our past, and sometimes we cling to it like a drowning man. The story is set in the first half of the twentieth century, a time when the slings and arrows of life were particularly deadly. And although it was a time when suffering and loss were the norm, Greenwood still makes the suffering personal. A sad, splendid book that rings true."

-Suzanne Parry, author of Lost Souls of Leningrad