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Kennaway, Guy Bird Brain ISBN 13: 9780224093996

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9780224093996: Bird Brain
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Poacher turned gamekeeper may be one of the oldest plots in fiction, but in Guy Kennaway's achingly funny new novel it is given a sharp and playful new twist.

Life was always difficult for Banger Peyton-Crumbe, an antiquated, misanthropic blood-sport obsessive, but it gets considerably worse when he is killed in a shooting incident and returns to earth as a pheasant. And a pro-shooting pheasant at that. Banger's long-suffering family think his death was an accident, but his gun dogs, who witnessed their master's demise, know it to be murder.

He quickly adapts to life as one of thousands of birds reared for local shoots, and is able to put his experience to good use, advising his new friends on the best way to avoid an early death. It's not all bad - there's food, a warm bed and hens aplenty.

But avoiding the guns turn out to be the least of Banger's worries, when he discovers in a scrap of newspaper the terrible truth of his accident. Navigating a range of obstacles, from foxes to well-meaning children to blundering animal-rights activists, he embarks on an epic journey back to his ancestral seat and his beloved dogs in an attempt to rectify the many mistakes of his life, and confront his murderer.

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Review:
"A great book - I love it"--Jilly Cooper

“Funny, poignant and original, this country-house whodunit made me laugh out loud, and nod in recognition at its acerbic observations”--Robert Uloth, Country Life

Bird Brain turns a ludicrous scenario into a wonderfully astute satire with full confidence in its own eccentricity. There is a sharp metropolitan intelligence quietly ticking over behind this tale of conga-dancing pheasants who can recite Keats and make plans for holidays, not to mention dogs who talk and turn out to be smarter than their owners. Kennaway writes the fantastical side of the story with a tongue-in-cheek gusto, nicely juxtaposing it with a more realistic world of dodgy coppers, Brixton job centre and Tracy Emin’s cat. Ripe, rich, fun, this is a beautifully turned story, good to the very last drop”--Phil Baker, Sunday Times

"For pheasants themselves he has unqualified respect, reminding us that the ancestral lands of these ‘flying dartboards’ once stretched from Kashmir to Thailand. With or without their help, the narrative builds to a satisfyingly violent climax. Whatever one makes of this mixture, this is a bloody brilliant book”--Andrew Barrow, The Spectator

"Eccentric and anthropomorphic, you’ll either love or hate this book. I loved it. It’s high-spirited, subversive and full of wry social observation and excellent jokes. Think Paul Torday meets Chicken Run”--Wendy Holden, Daily Mail

“A brilliant new comic novel made me laugh out loud last week: Bird Brain, by Guy Kennaway, describes the fate of Banger, a member of the landed gentry murdered for his estate. Banger comes back to earth as a pheasant, and as the shooting season approaches he is set on revenge. Kennaway’s pheasants are spookily realistic and hilariously funny”--Janet Street-Porter, Independent on Sunday

“The funniest book I’ve read this year is Guy Kennaway’s Bird Brain”--Kate Gunning, The Guardian Readers Books of the Year

“I loved it... It’s a book I’ve been waiting to read all my adult life, for it feels to me like nothing so much as a rather adult version of that other great pheasant story, Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World”--Rachel Cooke, The Observer

“What sets it apart from any other flippant comic novels is that buried in all the ridiculous frivolity there are some valid points about the nature of country estates and the whole shooting business”--www.bookbag.com

“Kennaway certainly tells the tale with gusto”--Alex Peake-Thompson, Times Literary Supplement
Book Description:
A very, very funny novel about country sports, murder, intrigue - and talking pheasants.

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  • PublisherJonathan Cape
  • Publication date2011
  • ISBN 10 0224093991
  • ISBN 13 9780224093996
  • BindingHardcover
  • Number of pages304
  • Rating

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780099563471: Bird Brain

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ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780099563471
Publisher: Vintage, 2012
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  • 9781445881898: Bird Brain

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