The Bird Skinner

On a weather-beaten island in Maine, a birder and WWII vet confronts his past in this “atmospheric and engrossing” novel ( People ).   After a recent leg amputation, ornithologist and World War II veteran Jim Kennoway retreats to an island in Penobscot Bay, off the coast of Maine. All he wants is to drink, smoke, and be left alone. From his perch, he listens for birdcalls and thinks back on his youth, his romance with his now deceased wife, his work for the American Museum of Natural Histor