Little Bird of Heaven

2009 novel by Joyce Carol Oates
978-0-06-182983-3OCLC310399122
Dewey Decimal
813/.54 22LC ClassPS3565.A8 G73 2007Preceded byMy Sister, My Love Followed byA Fair Maiden 

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.

Plot summary

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

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

References

  1. ^ "William Trevor makes an Impac", Irish Times, April 12, 2011
  • v
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Works by Joyce Carol Oates
The Wonderland Quartet
The Gothic Saga
  • Bellefleur (1980)
  • A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
  • Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
  • My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
  • The Accursed (2013)
Other novels
Novellas
  • Black Water (1992)
  • First Love: A Gothic Tale (1996)
  • Beasts (2001)
  • The Corn Maiden: A Love Story (2005)
  • A Fair Maiden (2010)
Short story collections
Short stories
Young adult fiction