The Little Bird - by Ashby Jones (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In 1964, a Black teenager was murdered by a drunken white cop who got away with the crime, and eight years later, the boy's best friend, Shane, returns from combat intent on carving out justice himself. Suzanne, the daughter of the lawyer who failed in prosecuting the case, also lands back in Virginia, but her aim is to follow her father's path to suicide, a path created by his loss and the severe rheumatoid arthritis that followed. Shane and Suzanne were four years apart in high school and barely knew each other before they met, but after a chance encounter, an almost instant connection is made. Neither knows the other's secret goal, but as their bonds deepen, their love will be tested by familial duty, long-held grief, and even shifting sanity. But love might have other plans for both Shane and Suzanne if both decide to live long enough to find out. In this vividly told and slightly surreal novel, the power of forgiveness might be their salvation.

Review Quotes

"The Little Bird tells an imaginative, wistful story of an eccentric young woman and her steadfast lover, navigating a relationship while confronting the relentless demons from a conflicted past. The free-spirited, haunted and risk-taking Suzanne, leaves a lasting impression."--Jeanne M. Harrington, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emerita, University of Nebraska at Omaha

"Novelist Ashby Jones gives us a story of haunting and haunted power, at once intimate and mythic, immediate and fantastical, with heroes ready to sacrifice life itself as they risk redemption."--David Groff, author of Live in Suspense

"As a Southerner and fan of historical and literary fiction, I found The Little Bird to be a riveting story about a young man and woman trying to flee their painful past in a small Southern town."--Ann Willoughby, Founder Principal Emeritus. Willoughby Designs

About the Author

Ashby Jones's passion is writing literary fiction that attempts to understand mankind's never-ending battles with irony, tragedy, blatant contradiction, and the anomalies of love. Such is the focus of The Crossing, a stand-alone sequel to The Angel's Lamp, his first novel. Ashby studied under such notables as William Hoffman, a best-selling author, and years later at U.C.L.A. under Leonardo Bercovici, a highly regarded screenwriter.