A boy who drifted into the seaside town of Isla as a baby searches for
answers about where he and his parrot came from in this charmer of a
tale laced with magical realism from New York Times bestselling author
Alison McGhee.
The seaside town of Isla has many stories, the most notable being the
legend of the Seafaring Parrot. Locals claim that the Seafarer remembers
every sound, every whisper, cry, laugh, or snort ever uttered. But,
though there have been rumored Seafarer sightings, no one has actually
seen the bird before. Other stories surround a boy named Pablo, who
had washed up on shore in a blow-up swimming pool as an infant with only
a lavender parrot as a companion. Now, on the eve of his tenth birthday,
the stories are repeated.
"At first I thought it was a huge fish," Emmanuel, the man who found and
took Pablo in, says. Pierre, the baker's guess was a good one: Perhaps
Pablo has come from an undiscovered country, one unknown to the rest of
the world. Maybe the inhabitants there lived in tree houses, or
underground. Or maybe he's a pirate baby. But Pablo wants the truth, and
the only one who might know it is Birdy, his parrot. After all, she was
there, holding onto the raft. But unlike most birds who live in Isla,
Birdy can neither talk or fly. Or, at least, she never has. Until...one
day, when strong winds begin to blow--winds similar to the ones that
brought Pablo to shore--Birdy begins to mutter. Could Birdy be a
Seafaring parrot? If she is, then she will be able to tell Pablo the
true story of where he came from--of who tied him so lovingly and safely
to that raft? But, if she is, that also means the second part of the
Seafarer myth is true...that Seafaring Parrots will, eventually, fly
away.
As Pablo is buzzing with questions, hopes, and fears, an old saying
echoes in his mind: winds of change mean fortune lost or fortune
gained. And while the winds rise in Isla, Pablo holds tight to Birdy.
Would losing his companion, his dearest link to his past, be that loss?
