Even the Birds - by Ruth Taylor (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Peace has come to Guatemala after thirty-six years of war. Isabel, a guerrilla fighter of mixed Mayan and non-Indigenous heritage, returns from battle to the daughter she left in the care of her conservative aunt many years before. Soraida, afraid to lose the child she has raised, begrudgingly welcomes her rebel niece into her home, an arrangement that forces her to question her own role in the country's conflict. Isabel struggles to be the mother her daughter needs, but orphaned very young and marked by the war, she is not sure what that would be. Fifteen-year-old Yasmin faces problems of her own. The trio's commitment to each other falters, but it also evolves. And whether out of duty or out of love, they may yet help each other find peace--and even happiness--in their still deeply divided country.

Review Quotes

In this layered, deeply affecting debut, Taylor explores the legacy of armed conflict--the wounds, divisions and fears that persist after the guns of war are silent. Rendered with clear-eyed empathy, her characters struggle to find the peace they've been promised, either in themselves or in their nation. Yet they persevere. Even the Birds is a story both heart-wrenching and life-affirming, peopled with characters readers will not soon forget.

Like an archeological excavation, Ruth Taylor's Even The Birds systematically digs and uncovers and exposes personal ghosts, long-held secrets and uncertainties, crimes against an Indigenous population, and asks the critical question of whether the gain was worth the sacrifice. Set in post-civil war Guatemala, told through the eyes of three generations of women, this powerful and confident debut marks Taylor as a writer to watch.

Set in the aftermath of Guatemala's civil war, Even the Birds is a beautifully written and entrancing story about the struggles among three generations of women in a family torn apart by the war and divided in their beliefs and loyalties. Through vividly drawn, unforgettable characters, this novel brings to life one of the most violent and horrific periods of Guatemala's history and offers glimmers of a way forward through reconciliation. A sweeping page turner.

In her debut novel, Ruth Taylor has written three unforgettable women navigating themes of duty versus desire. Set in Guatemala during the 1990s Peace Process, Taylor's clean and sharp prose creates a snapshot of a key historical moment through an intimate, multi-generational story. A gripping, moving character study that will stay with you well past the final page.

About the Author

Ruth Taylor worked as a journalist in Guatemala from 1994 to 2003, before returning to Canada and taking up fiction. Her short stories have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, The Dalhousie Review, and Potomac Review, among other journals. In 2024, she won the Penguin Random House Canada Student Award for Fiction and in 2025, the Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction. Even the Birds is her first novel. Ruth lives and writes in London, Ontario.