The Magpie Funeral - by Adam J Galanski-de León (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"The Magpie Funeral is a story of seeking: family, culture, but most of all, understanding-to understand others, and to be understood. The characters that make up Adam Galanski's tender-hearted, quiet novella find themselves attempting to communicate to one another, but because of their language and cultural barriers, well-meaning is often lost, creating rifts instead of bonds. So, it is in the suspended moments of silence-while harvesting mushrooms, cooking a meal-that an American-born writer and his Polish grandfather are able to connect in the Carpathian forest. Galanski has managed a sweeping family lore in an intimate space, cultivating authentic and arresting imagery that grounded me in this cherished, hallowed land, and I deeply admire Galanski's ability to write a book that reads folkloric within its modernity. The Magpie Funeral is a poignant lament that stirs the heart-it's my favorite type of story: one of complexity, compassion, and catastrophic ache."

-Kalani Pickhart, author of I Will Die in a Foreign Land

Review Quotes

"Taking the reader along on a journey from post-industrial Pennsylvania to post-communist Poland, The Magpie Funeral carefully explores the ways that people who are supposed to love each other hurt each other instead. Galanski-De Leon balances tenderness and brutality in each sentence as he constructs a story that will stay with you like a song remembered from your childhood."

-Ben Nadler, author of The Sea Beach Line

"Adam Galanski-De Leon's The Magpie Funeral is a hunter's stew of flavors-the Polish landscape, the burn of cheap alcohol, the flurry of a bird's wing: Sit down with something to sip and dig into this novella, savor it. The Magpie Funeral is a work of connection and loss, an exploration of how the two forever hold hands."

-Daniel A. Hoyt, author of This Book is Not for You