Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven

by Karen Salyer McElmurray

Book Overview

This haunting debut novel invites us to explore the boundaries between beliefs, desires, obsessions, and madness. Karen Salyer McElmurray's story is set in Mining Hollow, Kentucky, where we meet Ruth... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1892514249
• ISBN13: 9781892514240
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Hill Street Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A former student of McElmurray...

...in great appreciation for a wonderful book. The broiling minds and pure intensity of the characters were, in my opinion, equal in complexity and raw emotionality to the characters of D.H. Lawrence, Ayn Rand - and that is what I seek out most in anything I read.

Language soars in "Strange Birds..."

Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven is a remarkable book that examines the most universal of human emotions and the struggles we all experience in an attempt to maintain control of our own lives. While the reader's attention can wander at times, McElmurray never fails to draw the reader back in with her beautiful use of language and clearly depicted scenes. The images she creates stay with you long after you've read the last page.

Award Finalist

This complex and many-layered book was was 1 of 6 books nominated for the Appalachian Book of the Year Award. It should have won. Once Karen is discovered by the reading public, her books will win many awards. Buy this book. It will be with you long after you have read the last page.

A powerful and talented writer

Karen McElmurray is a powerful writer who produces a magical beauty not often found. Her abilities to present feelings and dreams, thoughts and emotions, fear and hope, longing and regret far exceeded my expectations. Her talent to create and bring to life the characters and places are a gift to the senses and the heart. Her words flow like liquid, I await anxiously for her next work.

This is a writer to watch--Genius at Work

Karen McElmurray is a writer's writer and a reader's writer. The lyrical and haunting power of her language and the truth she exposes to us in her storytelling is proof that indeed this is a writer to watch. There will only be more power and beauty issuing forth from her talent.