The Whistle of a Bird

By: Laura J Bloom

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A linked novel celebrating female strength and resilience.

America is like no other nation. People bravely emigrate from foreign lands to contribute to its evolution and success. Overlapping moments in time link nine diverse generational immigrant women in soulful tales of self-discovery. When confronting inner struggles each seeks empowerment by invoking the wisdom, sacrifice, hope, and determination of the spirits who came before them. Sweep through decades and across borders to experience the intense love, aching trauma, and triumphant outcomes, that deliver inspiration and healing.

Time in the garden is normally Nam Ha`s favorite part of the day. This afternoon she berates herself for recent failures. Overwhelmed by shocking news from her doctor and struggling with PTSD, she is in crisis. A storm is coming. She should go indoors but remains to provide the compassion she feels unworthy of herself, to a sparrow searching for her lost fledgling, while grappling with the pain of abandonment by her own mother during a traumatic exit from Vietnam.

Kasumi’s daughter’s head rests on her stomach listening for sounds from her baby sister inside. She hears growling and laughs, stirring tender visions of another little girl. The one in the photo in her living room who was sent to an internment camp and laid on a cot, cold and hungry, missing her old home where a soft breeze carried the scent of distant flowers and her mother laughed. The one who found a renewed spirit through friendship with the desert hare she named Mana.

Maryna sits in the unfinished space that will be her floral shop. Exposed ductwork triggers brutal memories of the years between sloshing along a puddled road as a homeless and desperate orphan in Ukraine and where she is now. The need to protect her little sister forced her to make decisions beyond her age. Bad decisions. After unwittingly entering a vile underworld she sustained an unflinching determination, fueled by love and hope, to survive.