Blackbird House

More about the book

From the great May storm in 1778, when John Hadley and his sons slip the British blockade off the Massachusetts coast only to vanish at sea, the lives of those in the wooden farmhouse on the cape intertwine through time. Young Isaac Hadley is captivated by his pet blackbird and star charts in The Practical Navigator, showing little interest in building the house. A century later, Violet, with her stained face and ghostly bird, reads the same book, discovering the ease of tricking a learned man but the challenge of catching one. Larkin Howard is willing to sell his soul for the farm until he meets a woman who hears the whales cry on the beach, while a young Farrell boy witnesses more than he should on a snowy night. The pond behind the farmhouse remains dark and unforgiving beneath its golden lilies. By the 1950s, the farmhouse is part of a community filled with steady men, wayward boys, and women who make jam yet still feel the ghostly presence of Cora Hadley. As summer visitors from the cities flood the countryside, the house struggles to contain its ghosts, and the tragedies continue. With an uncanny sense of place and vividly real characters, this work masterfully weaves together lives across space and time, creating a haunting narrative.