Aoife Fitzpatrick's debut novel, The Red Bird Sings, is based on the extraordinary true story of a murder trial that took place in West Virginia, 1897.
When young Zona Heaster Shue dies only a few months after her wedding, her mother Mary Jane becomes convinced that Zona was murdered – by none other than her husband, Trout, the handsome blacksmith beloved in their small Southern town.
But when Trout is put on trial, no one believes he could have done it, apart from Mary Jane and Zona’s best friend Lucy, who was always suspicious of Trout. As the trial raises to fever pitch and the men of Greenbrier County stand aligned against them, Mary Jane and Lucy must decide whether to reveal Zona’s greatest secret in the service of justice. But it’s Zona herself, from beyond the grave, who still has one last revelation to make.
The Red Bird Sings explores questions we are still asking to this day: who is listened to and who is ignored? Why are women so often not believed? And what does justice truly mean?
When young Zona Heaster Shue dies only a few months after her wedding, her mother Mary Jane becomes convinced that Zona was murdered – by none other than her husband, Trout, the handsome blacksmith beloved in their small Southern town.
But when Trout is put on trial, no one believes he could have done it, apart from Mary Jane and Zona’s best friend Lucy, who was always suspicious of Trout. As the trial raises to fever pitch and the men of Greenbrier County stand aligned against them, Mary Jane and Lucy must decide whether to reveal Zona’s greatest secret in the service of justice. But it’s Zona herself, from beyond the grave, who still has one last revelation to make.
The Red Bird Sings explores questions we are still asking to this day: who is listened to and who is ignored? Why are women so often not believed? And what does justice truly mean?
Published by Virago Press
