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The Comfort of Crows

A Backyard Year

by Margaret Renkl

Narrator Margaret Renkl

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Length 7 hours 46 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Oh, my what a joyous read. The author reflects on the changes that take place in the wild from season to season beginning in winter ending with autumn. Her yard in Nashville, local parks and a cabin on the Cumberland Plateau are her main areas of observation. She also writes about growing up on a farm in Alabama. The language is so beautiful and reminds me of the book World of Wonders. The artwork in the book is equally remarkable and her brother Billy was the artist of the fifty-two pieces of art presented throughout the book. The writing is occasionally melancholy as she considers climate change and habitat destruction. But it is always hopeful, and the author constantly looks for beauty in the world regardless of the season. She encourages readers to observe and listen to their own place within nature. Who doesn't have a few minutes each week to pause and reflect on the beauty of a sunset or the joy of a bird catching a worm?”
— Marya • Out West Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Listening to this meditation on nature is like sitting down to coffee with the author, who is also the narrator. Embark on a long walk outside with this one, or at least sit near a large window to gaze out while you listen.”
— Melissa • Elephant Ear Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Renkl’s writing soothes, entrances and engages me immediately as sentence by sentence she walks through nature’s seasons and the seasons of our lives. If you want to do one lovely thing for yourself, read The Comfort of Crows, and give it as a wonderful gift to someone you care for. ”
— Patience • Underground Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Listening to Margaret Renkl read this delightful exploration of nature is the perfect antidote to troubling times. If you're stressed or sad, hit play on this one to be uplifted. Be sure to buy the print copy as well to get the beautiful illustrations by her brother. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially when read by the author. ”
— Sally • Broadway Books

#21 in Bestselling Environment & Nature Audiobooks

Summary

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK

THE PERFECT AUDIOBOOK FOR NATURE LOVERS, BIRDERS, AND GARDENERS * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * AMAZON EDITOR’S PICK * INDIE NEXT PICK

From the beloved New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author of Late Migrations comes a “howling love letter to the world” (Ann Patchett): a luminous book that traces the passing of seasons, personal and natural.

In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons—from a crow spied on New Year’s Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring—what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer.

Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life. Grown children, unexpectedly home during the pandemic, prepare to depart once more. Birdsong and night-blooming flowers evoke generations past. The city and the country where Renkl raised her family transform a little more with each passing day. And the natural world, now in visible flux, requires every ounce of hope and commitment from the author—and from us. For, as Renkl writes, “radiant things are bursting forth in the darkest places, in the smallest nooks and deepest cracks of the hidden world.”

With fifty-two original color artworks by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, The Comfort of Crows is a lovely and deeply moving book from a cherished observer of the natural world.

Biography & Memoir Family & Relationships Nonfiction Environment & Nature