Birthright

by Andrew Coburn

On March 1, 1932, the sleeping infant son of American flying hero, Charles Lindbergh, was snatched from his cradle. A blend of fact and fiction, this is a re-imagining of the famous kidnap case that continues to exert a grip on the world's imagination.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068481529X
• ISBN13: 9780684815299
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 316 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

I really enjoyed this book

This was a wonderful book to read. I could NOT put it down. The characters were so full of life. They could have been people you knew, members of your family and even a little of yourself could be recognized in them. I didn't feel that the book ever lagged in any spot and it grabbed you from the first sentance. I don't want to give anything about the book away because, if you choose to read it, you should have the full enjoyment and all the wonderment that comes with it. In my opinion, though, it was very well written with just the right amount of detail, not so much that you get bored and enough to picture every scene. The story was beautiful; full of human nature. Andrew Coburn makes his characters real and easily identifiable. I will definately be looking for other books written by this author.

Birthright's Tornado Force Winds Sweep You Away

Coburn's Birthright takes you by storm. His language is poetry; his metaphors music. The power of love, anguish, fraility, self-preservation,and death resound in the music of this sonata--note by note.Hear the tainted timbre of Helen's maternal voice; the rasp on consumption in Rudy's. We want to wipe Shell's desperation from our sweaty palms. We know Father Henry's meancholy as he views with awe a rush of river that he knows will continue to flow, though he won't. And we feel the rod of Mrs. Dodd's spine straighten with cold resolve.Coburn's words breathe; the metaphors emote. Don't miss it. And beg Coburn for more.

Another outstanding book by Coburn

Run, don't walk, and buy every book this man wrote. He knows how to use the English language: outstanding descriptions and dialogs. Can't rave enough!

Ab interesting addition to the Lindbergh mythos

In 1932, Helen Shellenbach's grip on reality is very loose, to say the least. When Helen accidentally kills her infant child, her desperate husband, Shell, quickly realizes that he needs a replacement to assuage his spouses grief and guilt before she suffers a nervous breakdown. Like any loyal husband, he goes out and kidnaps a baby, who happens to be the son of Charles and Ann Lindbergh. The Shellenbachs raise the lad as if he were their own child, calling him David. A few years later, Helen completes her spin into insanity and is committed. When David turns thirteen, Helen recommends that Shell return David to the Lindberghs, an act he refuses because the child is now a part of him. More years pass and by the nineteen seventies David is running for governor of Massachusetts. His father is dying of cancer and decides the time to tell him the truth has arrived. He informs David who his biological parents truly are. His biological father is dead, but his birth mother and natural siblings still live. Once he recovers from the denial stage, David has several difficult decisions to make that will effect the lives of himself and those close to him. BIRTHRIGHT is an interesting story line based on a twist to the Lindbergh kidnapping case. Shell is a fabulous character struggling to survive his one error in life by doing the best he can for David. The relationship between David and Shell (before and after the revelation) is also brilliantly drawn. Andrew Coburn brings a unique freshness to the historical fiction genre with this compelling story. Harriet Klausner

A fascinating variation on the Lindbergh kidnapping

In 1932, Helen Shellenbach's grip on reality is very loose, to say the least. When Helen accidentally kills her infant child, her desperate husband, Shell, quickly realizes that he needs a replacement to assuage his spouses grief and guilt before she suffers a nervous breakdown. Like any loyal husband, he goes out and kidnaps a baby, who happens to be the son of Charles and Ann Lindbergh. The Shellenbachs raise the lad as if he were their own child, calling him David. A few years later, Helen completes her spin into insanity and is committed. When David turns thirteen, Helen recommends that Shell return David to the Lindberghs, an act he refuses because the child is now a part of him. More years pass and by the nineteen seventies David is running for governor of Massachusetts. His father is dying of cancer and decides the time to tell him the truth has arrived. He informs David who his biological parents truly are. His biological father is dead, but his birth mother and natural siblings still live. Once he recovers from the denial stage, David has several difficult decisions to make that will effect the lives of himself and those close to him. BIRTHRIGHT is an interesting story line based on a twist to the Lindbergh kidnapping case. Shell is a fabulous character struggling to survive his one error in life by doing the best he can for David. The relationship between David and Shell (before and after the revelation) is also brilliantly drawn. Andrew Coburn brings a unique freshness to the historical fiction genre with this compelling story. Harriet Klausner