The Evening Chorus

"*The Evening Chorus* serenades people brutally marked by war, yet enduring to live - and relish - the tiny pleasures of another day. With her trademark prose - exquisitely limpid - Humphreys convinces us of the birdlike strength of the powerless." - Emma Donoghue Downed during his first mission, James Hunter is taken captive as a German POW. To bide the time, he studies a nest of redstarts at the edge of camp. Some prisoners plot escape; some are shot. And then, one day, James is called to the Kommandant's office. Meanwhile, back home, James's new wife, Rose, is on her own, free in a way she has never known. Then, James's sister, Enid, loses everything during the Blitz and must seek shelter with Rose. In a cottage near Ashdown forest, the two women jealously guard secrets, but form a surprising friendship. Each of these characters will find unexpected freedom amid war's privations and discover confinements that come with peace. *The Evening Chorus* is a beautiful, astonishing examination of love, loss, escape, and the ways in which the intrusions of the natural world can save us. "*The Evening Chorus* sparkles." -Jo Baker "*A* poised, lyrical novel about the griefs of war, written with poetic intensity of observation." -Helen Dunmore "This riveting novel is a song. Listen." -Richard Bausch www.hhumphreys.com