Carrie Birde

My debut novel, A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace is coming soon from Blydyn Square Books

Welcome to a world where they don't burn the witches

“I wrote A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace as an alternative to the hopelessness of dystopian stories. I wanted to write something about community, and what it might mean if, instead of isolating people and marginalizing them because they don’t fit our expectations, we instead accepted and supported them. If instead of taking our world and its gifts as things to be exploited, subjugated, or destroyed, we applied that same acceptance and support. I wanted to put something gentle and hopeful out into the world. I wanted to write about a world where they don’t burn the witches.”

Hello there

Carrie Birde is a poet, artist, amateur photographer, and author of the forthcoming novel, A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace, the first novel in the Tales of the Bright Wood series. She is a voracious reader with particular interest in mythology, folk tales, and fairy tales. Like many of the women in those stories, she has friendships extending beyond the boundaries of species, among these several generations of Gray Catbirds, a kerfuffle of Eastern Chipmunks, a singing Calico Cat, and a small, brown, Fey creature currently disguised as a dog. Although she does travel now and again, here and there, she feels it’s been a good day if she hasn’t left the “Boonton Bubble” where she lives with her husband and son.

About A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace

Soon after her 19th birthday, Grace unexpectedly gains the power to speak with the natural world – the birds, the pets and animals on her family farm, maybe even the very elements themselves. As she is thrown from her stable, routine world into unknowable new directions, she must manage extraordinary new relationships, the consequences of her new-found talent, and unexpected dangers when news travels beyond her small, tight-knit village. This is a story of relationships forged with the natural world, the significance of interconnectivity, and the support of community. It is a transformative story of hope.

Excerpt

“Let it rest,” Sylvie said. “Yesterday, last season, last year – the world spoke. It has always spoken,” the cat paused to smooth her whiskers. “Nothing has changed.”

“It seems, though,” Grace said softly, “that I have…” She rubbed the cat’s cheek with her thumb, felt the weight of her mother’s attention.

“So it seems.” With a twitch of whiskers, Sylvie agreed, seemingly unconcerned by the contradiction.

“But…” Grace’s hand stilled on the cat’s striped form. “But why?”

White-tipped tail curled over her front paws, the cat leaned into Grace’s hand. “The world is its own secret,” she rumbled. “It is not your mystery to solve.”

Grace stroked Sylvie’s black and tan fur, felt the curve of the cat’s strung-bead spine beneath her palm. Her head buzzed with a riot of disordered thoughts, and she felt the sudden, unreasonable urge to weep.

“Change is growth.” Sylvie, purring, looked up at Grace through slit-pupiled eyes. “Growth can be painful.”

Nodding, Grace swiped a tear from her cheek, hoped it escaped her mother’s notice.

“But you endure.” Sylvie sat up, creasing the book’s splayed pages, and thrust her head up against Grace’s chin. “Your strength will be your protection.”

Murl chose that moment to rouse himself from the hearthrug. Ambling over, he sat, panting, at Grace’s knee. “I’ll protect you,” he said.

Breath catching in her throat somewhere between relief and laughter, Grace leaned forward. She hugged Sylvie to her ribs and pressed her lips to Murl’s sweet, domed skull.

Writing & Art

October 25, 2024 / carriebirde

Carrie Birde

Welcome to a world where they don't burn the witches

Hello there

About A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace

Excerpt

Writing & Art

Humm… — A Poem

Moss & Rain — A Poem

Eyes — A Poem