During the 1948 War of Independence - a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages - a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he has loved since adolescence.
Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair Mendelsohn, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war. Yair is a tour guide specialising in bird-watching trips who, in middle age, falls in love again with a childhood girlfriend. His growing passion for her, along with a gift from his mother on her deathbed, becomes the key to a life he thought no longer possible.

I don't always enjoy novels that move from one time period to another but this time, due to the skill of the writer, it wasn't a problem. The writing is beautiful and detailed and, despite the fact that I know next to nothing about Israel, I felt I could almost see those cranes and pelicans flying and I could easily picture the run down house in a remote village. This book will stay with me for some time - maybe forever as there was a death in the family this week literally just as I finished the book.

Going in the Birds bookring.

Mailed to the first person in the ring.

I'm taking out this book from "Birds" bookring. I'm very interested in history of Israel, so it seems to be interesting reading.