The Lord God Bird - Softcover

The Lord God Bird is a startling novella filled with dark images of America in the South in 1949. Jake Hamrick, a 19-year-old who has been obsessed since childhood with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a bird that is on the verge of extinction, leaves Illinois for Louisiana to find the creature, accompanied by Robin, his tiny girlfriend. They search in the bayous where the bird was last reported, and Robin, as obsessed as Jake, dresses like the bird, smearing her naked body with white clay, wearing a cloak of black crow feathers, her hair in a red crest. She is discovered by local hunters and Robin and Jake are pursued deep into the bayous, where they are harbored by Robert, an ancient black man. It is a cinematic novella of obsession, passion, violence, love and loss that you won't forget.

Russell Hill has published poetry, essays, short stories and novels. His novel, Robbie's Wife (Hardcase Crime), was a finalist for the 2008 Edgar Allan Poe prize from the Mystery Writers of America. The recipient of a Fulbright Award, he spent a year in England as an English teacher. and taught high school students for more than 50 years. An avid fly fisherman, he has written for outdoor magazines, and is the author of The Search for Sheepheaven Trout, a book about a two-year quest for a nearly-extinct trout. Other novels include The Edge of the Earth and Lucy Boomer (Ballantine Books). Married, with three children, he has lived most of his life in California.