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The Lord God Bird

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker, so breathtaking in appearance that it was often referred to as “The Lord God Bird,” was one of the world’s largest and most majestic woodpeckers. Due to destruction of its forest habitat, the bird was thought to have become extinct in the mid-twentieth century, until a sighting was reported in Arkansas in 2004.

A search led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology ensued, with a reward of $50,000 offered to anyone who could lead a biologist to a living specimen, but these subsequent investigations failed to confirm the sighting definitively. Such are the true events that inspire the fictional story in Tom Gallant’s THE LORD GOD BIRD: A Novel.

Set in the vestiges of a small rural community in Big Woods, Arkansas, this elegant, elegiac novel follows a lonely widower who spends his time farming, building wooden canoes, and paddling through the hardwood swamps in solitude. On one such canoe trip, he catches a fleeting glimpse of an Ivory Billed Woodpecker and takes it as a miracle.

When the world finds out about the sighting, scientists and strangers arrive to mount a proper search, and advertisements for everything from Ivory Bill-themed T-shirts to burgers and haircuts start cropping up in the local town. As searchers armed with cameras and scientific equipment invade the far reaches of the swamps, we also become privy to the inner thoughts and observations of the Lord God Bird himself.

  • Format
  • hardcover
  • Pages
  • 224
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781593720476
  • Genres
  • fiction, canada
  • Release date
  • 2012