24 Bird-Related Novels & Memoirs

Book Summary

In Abbot Falls, Maine, three unlikely people are about to have their lives change after connecting at a bookstore. Violet is only twenty-two, but was just released from prison after nearly two years due to a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet is a retired English teacher who runs a book club at the prison. And, Frank is the handyman for a bookstore, and he had a complicated marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When Violet, Harriet, and Frank run into each other at the bookstore, they begin to learn about seizing second chances and the power of books to change our lives.

Book Summary

This sci-fi novel takes you on a postapocalyptic road trip through a world in which only 20% of the population has survived a lethal virus. The natural world has reclaimed cities and much of the infrastructure.

Will is the de facto caretaker of a Buddhist monastery in Colorado, and he has received a mysterious message to deliver a potential cure to what was once California. He sets out in a pickup pulled by two mules, but there is danger around every corner. He’ll only make it with the help of the raven named Peau guiding his journey, an opinionated cat, and a tough teenage girl.

Book Summary

Eighty-five-year-old Veronica is estranged from her family and searching for a cause worthy of inheriting her estate. After seeing a documentary about penguins being studied in Antarctica, she contacts the scientists and tells them she’s coming to visit—and she won’t take no for an answer.

After traveling from Scotland to Antarctica, she convinces the reluctant team to rescue an orphaned baby penguin. Veronica’s curmudgeonly heart can’t help but be warmed as the penguin becomes a part of everyday life at the base.

Veronica’s grandson, Patrick, travels to Antarctica to make one last attempt to get to know his grandmother. Together, Veronica, Patrick, and even the scientists learn what family, love, and connection are all about.

Book Summary

Meridian is smart and ambitious, which isn’t the expectation of young women in her time. She’s obsessed with birds and is pursuing her PhD to become an ornithologist. However, her brilliant physics professor, Allen, becomes quite a distraction from her plans when they fall in love.

When Allen is recruited to Los Alamos for a secret wartime project, Meridian reluctantly gives up her goals to join him. Before long, she’s unwillingly taken on the role of traditional housewife. Years later, Meridian meets a Vietnam Vet who opens her eyes to how much she has given up. But is it too late to pursue her dreams now?

Book Summary

If fancy chickens are your favorite type of bird, don’t miss this cute rom com set in the world of competitive chicken shows! Madeline was at the peak of her chicken-showing career until a terrible day sidetracked her life. First, her prize rooster was discounted by an arrogant English poultry judge, George, at The National competition. But worse, that night, a terrible accident permanently injured her leg and killed almost her entire prized flock.

Three years later, she’s starting over on the show circuit. She wasn’t prepared to encounter George again. However, the investigation into a corrupt judge unexpectedly pulls them together.

Book Summary

Franny packed up her research gear and talked her way onto a fishing boat in Greenland to follow the Arctic terns on what could be their last migration from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica.

Set in an unspecified date in the future, this novel has dystopian qualities. As the boat travels farther from civilization and safety, it becomes clear that Franny’s journey is as much about running away as it is about following the birds. Franny’s tale and journey are equally heartbreaking and breathtaking.

Book Summary

On Mallow Island, off the coast of South Carolina, sits an old cobblestone building in the shape of a horseshoe. It’s called the Dellawisp, named after the tiny turquoise birds who reside there alongside its human tenants. The building has an air of magical secrecy.

When 19-year-old Zoe inherits her late mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp, she meets the quirky and secretive neighbors, including a henna artist, a lonely chef, middle-aged sisters (one of whom is a hoarder), and three ghosts. The property is overseen by Frasier, who has a special affinity for the birds.

When one of the residents turns up dead, the other neighbors search for answers, but each is also hiding secrets of their own. The investigation leads to the island’s famous but reclusive author and to a long-lost relative of the sisters.

Book Summary

In the aftermath of a hurricane on the Texas Gulf Coast, residents are returning to devastation. Teddy finds Bird Isle in shambles, including the candy store she inherited from her mother. Jack, a widower who owns a BBQ chain, arrives to feed the islanders as they start the long road of repairs.

Bird Isle residents fear the Aransas Wildlife Refuge will not be ready for the whooping cranes’ annual migration south. Teddy, Jack, and Pickles (a dog they’ve rescued) work together to rebuild before the arrival of the whooping cranes. But Jack has a secret that may ruin his new connection with Teddy.

Book Summary

Weyward weaves together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, using a bit of magical realism along the way.

In 1619, Altha is awaiting trial after being accused of using witchcraft to murder a local farmer. She knows that she’ll need to use all her deep knowledge of the natural world if she wants to remain free. She, along with the other women in her family, are able to communicate with birds and insects.

In 1942, the world is at war. Violet longs for the education her brother receives in their grandfather’s crumbling estate, but as a girl, she’s not entitled to knowledge. Her mother was rumored to have gone mad, and the only connection Violet has to her is a locket and the word Weyward carved into the wooden floor.

In 2019, Kate is fleeing London in the dark and heading to Weyward Cottage. She inherited the ramshackle home with its overgrown garden from an aunt she barely knew. It’s given her the much-needed opportunity to escape her abusive boyfriend. However, she doesn’t know that the cottage has secrets dating back to the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

Book Summary

Mirabelle is an innocent young goldfinch who lives to sing, which means her home in the backyard of a piano teacher is perfect. One day, Mr. Stark gets a new student, Michael, who is sensational but now refuses to play.

Michael is supposed to be performing in an upcoming Chopin festival, but how can he do that if he can’t even practice? Mirabelle has an idea, but couldn’t predict how her unexpected friendship with the boy will turn into a grand adventure that links the great composer Frederic Chopin, the trailblazing author George Sand, and the French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix.

Book Summary

This 1970 classic novella is about a seagull who just doesn’t fit in with the others. He’s bored with the status quo of fighting over food with other seagulls. Instead, he wants to learn new things and fly high. While he starts as an outcast, he finds other friends and learns to be true to himself.

Book Summary

Armchair travel to Scotland this summer with Morag McGinty, a third-generation pilot who runs puddle-jumper flights to the tiny, windswept northern islands. Together, she and her grandfather deliver mail, packages, tourists, medicine, and even sheep. It’s a vital lifeline that all the residents rely on, but Morag’s boyfriend from flight school, Hayden, wants her to move to Dubai with him.

Morag is on the verge of upending her life for Hayden when a rough landing in a storm maroons her on Inchborn Island. This off-the-grid island has a population of one. Gregor, an ornithologist from Glasgow, is there for the bird-watching station. But he might be the one person who can give Morag the perspective she needs.

Book Summary

Joanna Teale has thrown herself into dawn-to-dusk work studying nesting birds in rural Illinois for her graduate program. It’s a great distraction from the loss of her mother and her own breast cancer battle.

Out of nowhere, a bruised girl named Ursa shows up. The girl claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles but provides no other background information. Concerned about the bruises, Joanna lets the girl stay while enlisting the help of her reclusive neighbor to solve the mystery of where the girl came from.

Miracles occur over the summer, but as the end of summer and the fifth miracle approach, Ursa’s dangerous past also gets closer.

Book Summary

Celeste is 42, newly divorced, and soon to be an empty-nester, allowing her to put herself first for a change. She’s eager for adventure, so when a friend asks her to “partner” with his buddy for an event, she misunderstands the request and happily agrees to play the role of temporary girlfriend. It turns out that John isn’t looking for love, he’s just looking for birds. He needs a partner for Tucson’s biggest bird-watching contest in hopes that a win could launch his guiding business. By the time the two have sorted out the mixed messaging, they’ve become both teammates and a fake couple.

Celeste is clueless when it comes to birds, but John is a great teacher. As the two spend hours hiking through the Arizona wilderness he’s able to practice for his dream job as a guide. The more time they spend birdwatching, the harder it becomes to ignore their chemistry. But both are firmly on team stay-single, so Celeste suggests their status should be “birders with benefits.”

Book Summary

This novel examines the uneasy relationship between the National Park Service and the people whose land was used to create Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

In 1931, Rosie’s Smoky Mountain home was in the path of the Tennessee Great Smokies Park Commission as they set out to create a new national park. Rosie insists she’ll never give up her land, and a compromise offers her and her disabled sister the opportunity to stay for her lifetime. She forms a bond with an ornithologist who is conducting a bird survey for the park, but this friendship only deepens the rift between her and the other mountain folk who are suspicious of government connections.

Eighty-five years later, Kieran heads back to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in search of answers about her great-grandmother’s mysterious death. She meets a park historian named Zach, who may be the key to finding answers and a precious family heirloom. But when Kieran clashes with government regulations, will Zach block her from solving this family mystery?

Book Summary

In an attempt to recover from a failed love, a 45-year-old oil heir named Gil walks from New York to Arizona. With his inherited wealth, he moves into a large home in Phoenix. His windows look directly into the glass-walled house next door, giving him a view of the family inside similar to that of fish in a fishbowl. With such an intimate view of their activities, his life begins to intertwine with theirs.

Gil is determined to use his wealth for good, so he embarks on a life of service. In between bird watching, Gil volunteers at a women’s shelter and works to find purpose in his community.

Book Summary

Beginning in 2016, author Amy Tan felt overwhelmed by the hatred and division on social media and in real life. In an attempt to find peace, she turned to nature and the birds that visited her backyard. She began documenting the beauty she saw in charming and witty diary entries that eventually turned into this memoir.

Her attempts to find solace and quiet moments connecting with nature are shown not only in her writing but also in her artwork throughout. For this reason, we recommend a print copy over audio.

Book Summary

In 2015, Noah completed an extraordinary trip around the world. In 365 days, he visited 41 countries (including all 7 continents), and spotted over half of the known bird species in the world.

It wasn’t an easy feat to see 6,042 species. Noah encountered mudslides, floods, war zones, sleep deprivation and more. His journey provides a unique perspective on the people, places, and birds of the world. On his travels, he stayed with locals who could educate him on both regional birds and local customs, making this an excellent pick for anyone interested in world travel.

Book Summary

While you may not recognize the name Christian Cooper, you’ll likely recognize his story. In 2020, he was in Central Park birdwatching as he had since he was ten years old. A woman was walking her dog without a leash, as is required in the area because off-leash dogs harm the bird habitat. When he calmly asked her to leash her dog, she reacted in an incredible rude and racist manner, and the world watched the interaction unfold from Cooper’s video.

While this story is recounted in Cooper’s memoir, it’s also so much more. From his world travels and lifelong love of birding to his job at Marvel and experiences on 9/11, you’ll find humor, nature, and wisdom about his life growing up as a self-described gay Blerd (Black nerd).