A Bird in the Hand
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Set against the rugged landscapes of early twentieth-century Canada, A Bird in the Hand is a novel about survival, responsibility, and the fragile balance between holding on and letting go.Told through the eyes of five young men, four of whom, victims of Ireland’s second Great Potato Famine, and the widespread belief that gold nuggets the size of hens’ eggs would be lying about for the taking, find passage on one of the notorious Coffin Ships crossing the Atlantic to the Gold Fields of British Columbia, and their fifth, a Chinese nomad, facing cultural racism and its inherent violence, attempting to face down all that was wrong with the system that held him captive.