The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

From New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Margaret Renkl comes a "howling love letter to the world" (Ann Patchett): a luminous book tracing the passing of seasons, personal and natural.

In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a devotional of sorts: fifty-two essays that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons--from a crow spied on New Year's Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year--what develops is a portrait of joy and grief. Joy at the ongoing pleasures of the natural world: "Until the very last cricket falls silent, the beauty-besotted will always find a reason to love the world." And grief at a shifting climate, at winters that end too soon, at songbirds growing fewer and fewer.

Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life. Grown children, unexpectedly home during the pandemic, prepare to depart once more. Birdsong and night-blooming flowers evoke generations past. The city and the country where Renkl raised her family transform a little more with every passing day. How can one person make a difference amid such destabilizing changes?

With fifty-two gorgeous four-color artworks by the author's brother--whose collages also accompanied Late Migrations, Renkl's Read with Jenna/TODAY Show book club pick--The Comfort of Crows is a lovely and deeply moving book from a beloved writer.