Brood

The coop houses no predators, but the chickens do not know this. A chicken knows only what it can see. A chicken’s life is full of magic. Lo and behold.

Over the course of a single year, our nameless narrator heroically tries to keep her small brood of four chickens alive despite the seemingly endless challenges that caring for another creature entails. From the freezing nights of a brutal winter to a sweltering summer which brings a surprise tornado, she battles predators, bad luck, and the uncertainty of a future that may not look anything like the one she always imagined.

Brood by Jackie Polzin is a darkly funny and startlingly original meditation on life and longing, full of sorrow, joy and unrelenting hope. It will stand beside such modern classics as H is for Hawk and Gilead.