First published 2012
Catherine Gehrig works as a conservator at a London museum. Her secret lover dies suddenly, leaving her devastated. Her supervisor assigns her a new project to help her cope: restore a nineteenth-century automaton shaped like a bird. Catherine begins taking apart the intricate clockwork mechanism. She discovers journals written by Henry Brandling, the man who ordered the mechanical creature over a century ago. Henry wanted the bird for his dying son. Catherine reads about Henry's desperate hope that the automaton might somehow help his child. The more Catherine works on the delicate gears and springs, the more she connects with Henry's pain. Both faced loss and searched for ways to bring something back to life. The mechanical bird becomes a bridge between their separate griefs, teaching Catherine about creation, invention, and how the heart responds to love and loss.
Genres: fiction, art, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grief
Setting: London, Museum
Period: 19th-century, 21st-century
229 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf