Little Bird of Heaven is a 2009 novel by Joyce Carol Oates. It is her 38th published novel. The novel is the third set in the fictional city of Sparta, NY, which was also a main setting for her two previous best-sellers We Were the Mulvaneys and The Gravedigger's Daughter.

Little Bird of Heaven
First edition
AuthorJoyce Carol Oates
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Published15 September 2009
Ecco Press
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages443 pp
ISBN978-0-06-182983-3
OCLC310399122
813/.54 22
LC ClassPS3565.A8 G73 2007
Preceded byMy Sister, My Love 
Followed byA Fair Maiden 

Plot summary edit

Zoe Kruller, a wife and mother, is found brutally murdered. The Sparta police target two primary suspects: her estranged husband, Delray Kruller, and her longtime lover, Eddy Diehl. In turn, the Krullers' son, Aaron, and Eddy Diehl's daughter, Krista, become obsessed with each other, each believing the other's father is guilty. By the novel's end, the fated lovers, meeting again as adults, are at last ready to exorcise the ghosts of the past and come to terms with their legacy of guilt, misplaced love, and redemptive yearning.

Reception edit

The novel was shortlisted for the 2011 International Dublin Literary Award.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ "William Trevor makes an Impac", Irish Times, April 12, 2011