In The Evolution of Birds, Sara Hills demonstrates her mastery of the short form as well as her deep understanding of the human condition. More than once I found myself holding my breath while reading these short, sharp miracles of narrative. These tiny stories, some no longer than half a page, glitter darkly, expose truths with precision and guts. Wild and raw and compellingly electric, Hills’s stories and the characters who inhabit them, will sear themselves into your heart and brain. Hills is an inimitable talent.
~ Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works from 2002-2018
Sara Hills’ The Evolution of Birds bursts with addictive, kinetic prose crafted by a writer with a confident vision and the precision of a surgeon. Each of these narratives proves that fully imagined characters can evolve on a single page. Hills plumbs the depths and the horrors of family, religion, and the sinister moments of youth. This is the flash narrative at its finest.
~ Christopher Allen, editor of SmokeLong Quarterly
The Evolution of Birds is an extraordinary debut. In a series of riveting stories, Sara Hills immerses us deeply into the often precarious lives of girls and women — children, very young women and mothers. Hills’ style is intimate, we’re close up to life-changing experiences. Her exact, startling images sear through to truths hard to tell. There is humour too and an inventive use of form. A must-read collection.
~ Jude Higgins, author of
The Chemist’s HouseThere is a space where your breath catches in anticipation or fear or joy. Sara Hills finds that place with her debut flash fiction collection. Drawing readers in with each story, her words catch breath and life and death and grief. On each page, she serves up new images and descriptions that dig into souls, emotional and heart-rending. Each story nestles in and doesn’t let go – from mommy tigers to knitting a better mother, the relationships between life and words, the expected and the surreal create instantly-recognizable Sara Hills prose. Evocative and evolved, each story challenges the flash form and ideas with breath-catching storytelling. Hills’ chapbook could easily have been titled The Evolution of Flash.
~ Amy Barnes, author of
Mother FiguresSara Hills is a writer of extraordinary skill. For some time, I’ve considered her to be one of my favourite flash writers and her debut collection
The Evolution of Birds confirms my view. This beautifully-crafted collection should not be missed.
~ Diane Simmons, author of
Finding a Way
