THE GOOD LORD BIRD

Next month, we will be reading and discussing The Good Lord Bird by James McBride at our book club meeting.  The Good Lord Bird tells the story of Henry Shackleford, a young slave living in the Kansas Territory.  When John Brown arrives in the area, an argument between Henry's master and Brown quickly turns violent.  Henry ends up leaving town with Brown, who believes Henry is a girl.  Over the course of the novel, Henry continues to play the part of a girl and eventually finds himself at the historic raid on Harper's Ferry.

This novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2013.  The National Book Award for Fiction recognizes outstanding literary work by a United States citizen that was also published in the United States.  Other recent recipients of the award include The Friend by Sigrid Nunez, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson.


James McBride is the author of six works:

Five Carat Soul
Kill 'Em and Leave
The Color of Water
The Good Lord Bird
Miracle at St. Anna
Song Yet Sung

If you liked The Good Lord Bird, then you may also enjoy one of the novels listed below.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird
Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The House Girl by Tara Conklin

Also, look for the Showtime adaptation that will star Ethan Hawke as John Brown.

Picture from https://ent.sharelibraries.info/client/en_US/evansint/search/results?qu=the+good+lord+bird&te=