The Yellow Bird Sings: A Novel

by Jennifer Rosner

Hardcover, 2020

Status

Available

Call number

F ROS

Collection

Publication

Flatiron Books (2020), 304 pages

Description

"It is wartime in German-occupied Poland. A mother hides with her five-year-old daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives. The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings. He sings whatever the girl composes in her head: high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of contrabassoon. Music helps the flowers bloom. When the daisies grow abundant, the bird weaves a garland for the girl to wear on her head like a princess-though no one can see. She must hide from everyone in the village: soldiers, the farmhouse boys, the neighbors too. The lady with squinty eyes and blocky shoes just dragged a boy down the street and returned, proud and straight-backed, cradling a sack of sugar like a baby. After the Jews in their town are rounded up, Róza and her daughter, Shira, spend day and night hidden in a farmer's barn. Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses inside her. To pass the time, Róza tells Shira a story: There is a little girl who, with the help of her yellow bird, tends an enchanted garden. The garden must be kept completely silent-only the bird can sing the girl's musical compositions-and together the girl and her bird avert many threats. Thus Róza manages to soothe Shira and shield her from the horrors around them. But then the day comes when their haven is no longer safe and Róza must face an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side, or give her the chance to survive apart. The Yellow Bird Sings is a beautiful, heartrending novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter, and the triumph of hope in even the darkest of times"--… (more)

Barcode

6549

Awards

National Jewish Book Award (Finalist — Debut Fiction — 2020)
Massachusetts Book Award (Honor Book — Fiction — 2021)

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member Beamis12
A simply told tale about a dark time in history. The Holocaust, a horrendous happening that cost millions of innocent people their lives. Can a story written during this time, about this event be both brutal and tender? Both horrific and lovely. In this, her debut novel, I feel Rosner did just
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that. A Jewish mother, Rosa, her young daughter, Shira forced to hide in a farmers barn, share a profound love of music. It is their background, and it and their love of stories are the way they communicate when silence means safety. Terror and quiet against their love for each other, the music balancing the two. It is the music, the beauty of the songs that both will lean on in the times to come. A time of sacrifice and discovery.

I remember the book, [book:She Rides Shotgun|23361199] because of a little bear, that personal item inserted and the role it played, for me, made the book unforgettable. In this book it will be a small yellow bird, a bird of friendship and love. A bird that signifies the freedom they no longer have. It will be the beauty of the music, and a mother, daughter love that can not be broken.

Ultimately I felt both devastated and hopeful reading this, as if there was something the Nazis could not steal, destroy. Hard to do, and the author uses the magic and power of storytelling, within and without, to do the near impossible. Melancholy, bittersweet, hopeful and sad, all emotions I felt while reading.

I look forward to Rosners next fictional rendering.

ARC from Bookbrowse.
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LibraryThing member Kathl33n
This was a great story and the theme and imagery of the yellow bird was truly very beautiful. Although I felt a bit detached reading it. I think a first person POV would have put much more emotion into the story. It is very difficult subject matter to read about, but in this case I didn't really
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feel like I felt the story or experienced it in anyway, just read it and had to imagine the emotion myself. But, in terms of WWII fiction I love a niche story and this is one of them. The imaginations of the two main characters move the story along in an almost surreal manner with the yellow bird providing comfort, the garden stories providing an escape and the music always providing hope. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy.
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LibraryThing member tamidale
I am always fascinated by an author’s ability to write about an abhorrent time in history and turn it into something of beauty and this is just what Jennifer Rosner has accomplished in her latest novel.

A Jewish mother and her 5 year old daughter find themselves seeking shelter in a barn in the
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Polish countryside. Luckily for them, the farmer and his wife agree to let them stay for a time in as long as they remain quiet and hidden. Of course, it does come at a cost, but it is not as great as what they would face on the run.

Having had a background in music, the mother keeps her daughter entertained by telling her lyrical stories. From these stories, the daughter creates a make believe world in which she has a yellow bird as her companion.

As time goes on it becomes too dangerous for them to be hiding in the barn, so the mother makes an agonizing decision to separate them and send her daughter to live in safety with some nuns at an orphanage.

It is there that the child’s talent is brought forth, and in a sense, becomes her safety net. Throughout their time of separation, the mother is facing her own struggles as she tries to find her daughter while the war is coming to an end.

Readers who enjoy historical fiction and beautiful, descriptive writing will find their sweet spot with this novel. Others will be happy to hear there are no concentration camps featured in the story. I rate this a solid 4.5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
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LibraryThing member Slevyr26
4.5 stars because I wanted so much more for the ending but otherwise, I am finally happy to say that this work of historical fiction about the Holocaust did not disappoint me. In fact, it felt realistic and not at all melodramatic, the way so many ‘women’s fiction’ stories of this era tend to
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be. The raw feelings of mother and daughter being torn from the other — the mother feeling unspeakable guilt, but equally as unspeakable relief. To be unburdened with your young child and to admit relief? That is real and brave. To admit to yourself that you can feel and love more than the man you promised yourself to in marriage — even though he was murdered and were he alive and with you, you would never stray — that is real and brave. There were so many real instances of bravery and sacrifice in this story. My heart is torn over it. I will not soon forget Shira or Róża. Thank you to Flatiron for a free advanced copy of this book.
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LibraryThing member msf59
“The little girl does not dare cry out. If there are giants in this new garden, she doesn't want them to hear her. The yellow bird sings her music, and the enchanted flowers grow. Still, the girl remains silent.”

Poland, 1941. The Nazis are combing the town and countryside for Jews. Roza and her
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five year old daughter, Shira are hiding in a neighbor's barn. Roza has all ready lost her husband and her parents. She is determined to keep her daughter safe. Their hayloft, refuge is dark and cramped and they must be completely silent, day and night. Roza encourages Shira to create an imaginary yellow bird, that she can clutch to her chest and whisper to, offering a tiny bit of comfort. This is a simply told story and an impressive debut about the unbreakable bonds between mother and daughter, as this pair struggle to survive the next four years of war and occupation.
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
There are lots of stories about Jews hiding during World War II and sometimes I feel ‘If I’ve read one, I’ve read them all.” This book is different. A mother and daughter flee from their Polish home when the Germans capture the other members. They hide out for a long time in a barn. The
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description of living in silence as a mother and very young girl is so sad. When the Germans want the barn for storage the farmer and his wife convince the mother to send the child to a Catholic nunnery, where Zoshia as she is no called becomes enamored with the violin. For a while, the mother’s story of hiding in the forest and the child’s are told in separate chapters, then the chapters become melded together, then each is forced to go their own way. The final chapter set in New York City in 1965, is one of the best endings I’ve read.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
The Yellow Bird Sings, Jennifer Rosner, author; Anna Koval, narrator
This is a poignant tale about a mother running for her life, during the Holocaust. Her parents have been taken away by the Nazis. Her husband has been murdered by them. Róza is fleeing her home in Poland with her five year old
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child, in tow. Shira is beyond her five years in maturity. Music was part of her life since her talented parents were musicians. Her mother played the cello, her father the violin and her grandfather made beautiful instruments before the Nazis came to power. She herself, is a prodigy and music sustains her.
When she and her mother are discovered as they try to escape the German troops, the farmer hides them in his hay loft visiting her mother by night as payment. In order to cope with her terror and confusion, Shira creates an imaginary friend, a yellow bird that must not sing, but a bird that still helps to guide her and give her courage.
When it becomes apparent, after months and months, that they are no longer safe in the barn, Róza consents to send Shira to a convent for safe keeping until the war ends. Shira never quite fully comprehends why all this is happening to her, but she is obedient and does as she is told even when it comes to taking a new name to hide her own identity. To remind her of who she truly is, her mother stitches her name in tiny stitches, into the seam of her blanket which Shira is never without.
Will she and her mother ever reunite? How will both Shira and Róza survive on their own, without each other to provide comfort. The book ends with hopefulness even in the face of such dark times. Telling more would give away the story which is sometimes contrived with the conjunction of unlikely coincidences, but still, the book is grounded in history and in facts. It is well researched and well read by the narrator. As a matter of fact, I would recommend the book as an audio over the print edition so the lyrical prose can be fully appreciated.
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LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
Even though I loved the writing and all the musical references in "The Yellow Bird Sings", I found the plot fairly slow, especially at the start. However, after a while I was drawn into the lives of Roza and her daughter, Shira, as they struggled to survive the horrors of the holocaust. Filled with
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love and hate, regret and sacrifice, I was moved by the determination of Roza to keep her daughter alive. Sadly, though, I never felt emotionally connected to either of them.
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LibraryThing member BettyTaylor56
The author’s combination of lyrical and descriptive power enabled me to feel the beauty and love that managed to exist in these most horrific of times. Her superb rendering of the power of music and a child’s imagination gave me hope that Shira, a musical prodigy, would somehow be shielded from
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the horrors that existed all around her.

Rosner’s poignant description of the mother-daughter bond was heartbreaking yet also somewhat optimistic. The conditions Shira and her mother endured made me ashamed to complain even one iota about being confined by this Co-vid virus. They hid in a barn loft in Poland unable to move about freely and always having to remain silent. How does a mother et a five-year-old child to remain silent 24-hours-a-day? When they eventually became separated, I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering if they would ever be reunited.

This book addresses the phenomena of hidden children. Many Jewish parents made the heart-rending decision to put their children in the hands of Christian neighbors they trusted, or sent them to Christian schools run by Catholic nuns, or put them on train transports to another country. All this done in an effort to save the children’s lives. Some of these children were never reunited with their parents.

An excellent book, very moving. I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member SilversReviews
It is 1941 and we find Roza and Shira hiding in a barn after they fled the city where they lived.

Roza saw her parents and husband killed, and she realized the only way to keep her daughter safe was to run.

Shira was only five, had a gift for music, but could not make a sound.

They hid for
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approximately 400 days in a barn. It definitely was difficult to keep a five-year-old child quiet, but Shira did it.

It eventually became too dangerous to keep hiding. The farmer's wife took Shira from Roza and sent her to an orphanage while Roza fled into the woods.

Your heart will break for the characters as you wonder how you would feel about having to send your children away to protect them.

We follow both characters as they yearn for each other and try to survive without each other - Shira in a convent and Roza on the run freezing and barely surviving in the woods.

You will be drawn into the lives of Roza and Shira and ache along with them.

THE YELLOW BIRD SINGS is a beautiful, but heart wrenching story. It is a story of bravery and endurance.

If you enjoy historical fiction, learning of musical prodigies, and books lyrically and beautifully written along with a story line that pulls you in, you will not want to miss this book.

It will stay with you long after you close the cover. 5/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo
Prepare for a heartbreaking journey as a young Jewish child and her mother struggle against enormous odds to emerge from the horrors of the Nazi era in early 1940s Poland. The pacing is brilliant. The writing is exquisite. The fact that “The Yellow Bird Sings” is Rosner’s debut novel speaks
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to her talent. As the saga came to an end, I yearned for even a bit more information about the main characters’ pasts and future lives. There are few books that I read from start-to-finish in less than a week. “The Yellow Bird Sings” is on this select list.
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LibraryThing member shazjhb
Excellent book about WWII. Mother and daughter story.
LibraryThing member Romonko
This book was very informative, as well as a very well-written account of things that occurred in Poland at the beginning of WWII. The book opens in the summer of 1941 in Poland. The story begins in a hot loft in a barn where a mother and her 5 year old daughter are hiding from the Germans who have
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invaded Poland. The Germans have broken up Jewish families and killed Jewish people throughout the country. Roza and her daughter Shira are hiding in the barn of a neighbour. Roza knows that in order to keep her daughter safe, they must remain silent at all times, and if there is any sound at all of approaching people, they must hide themselves in the hay. The time spent in the barn is only supposed to be for a short while until things calm down. But they don't calm down, and the Germans are still running patrols to round up Jewish people, so the two stay in the loft hidden away for over a year. To pass the time Roza tells Shira stories and sings and hums songs to her. Little does Roza know that little Shira is a protege and as she is humming or singing, Shira is composing the music in her head. It finally becomes too dangerous to hide in the barn, and the price that Roza must pay for her lodging becomes too high. With the help of the farm wife, a safe haven is found for Shira in a convent in Poland. Roza knows that she must give Shira up for her own safety, but it tears her apart to do so. Shira is sent to a Catholic convent with a name change, and she eventually finds does find comfort there with the help of some very loving nuns. It is also determined that this child is a violin protege, so they provide lessons with an esteemed violinist . With Shira gone, Roza must set out on her own, away from the barn and she goes into the nearby forest in the middle of winter. Starving and freezing, she makes her way towards the convent where Shira has been placed. On the way she runs into many dangers, and meets some fellow Jewish women. It takes years, but they finally meet up with a Polish revolutionary force, and Rosa finds peace for a time until she must continue her journey to find her daughter. The book is gut-wrenching and sad, and illustrates clearly the lengths a mother will go to be reunited with her child. The book has been inspired by true stories of Jewish children that were hidden away in WWII. This is not a long book, but a lot is said in the 280 pages and it left a lasting impression on me. It is very well-written, and a story that is told from the heart.
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LibraryThing member Castlelass
In Poland during WWII, Róża and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, must go into hiding to avoid the Nazi round-up of the Jewish people. They hide in their neighbor’s barn and Róża makes up a story about a yellow bird to help her daughter remain silent and avoid detection. Shira is from a musical
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family, and she is a musically gifted child, which plays an important role in the narrative. When soldiers get close, Róża must make difficult decisions.

“Then Róża tells the story of a little girl who, with the help of her bright yellow bird, tends an enchanted garden. The little girl is five years old, the same age as Shira. The garden must be kept silent—only birdsong is safe—yet there is a princess who can’t stop sneezing and giants who must never hear them. There are adventures and threats averted by the little girl’s quick thinking; and each time, the story ends with the girl and her mother curled together in a soft heap of daisy petals for a good night’s sleep.”

It communicates how agonizing it would be to face a horrific situation while having to safeguard and interact with a young child, who would have little understanding of what was happening. It keeps the atrocities at a distance. There is no doubt what has happened (for example, rape) without going into excessive detail. It is a tribute to the author that, while not minimizing the misery of their experiences, she has written a poignant story of maternal love.
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ISBN

1250179769 / 9781250179760
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