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Published May 2021
272 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
An acclaimed journalist seeks to understand the mysterious allure of peacocks—and in the process discovers unexpected and valuable life lessons.
When Sean Flynn's neighbor in North Carolina texted "Any chance you guys want a peacock? No kidding!" he stared bewilderedly at his phone. He had never considered whether he wanted a peacock. But as an award-winning magazine writer, this kind of mystery intrigued him. So he, his wife, and their two young sons became the owners of not one but three charming yet fickle birds: Carl, Ethel, and Mr. Pickle.
In Why Peacocks?, Flynn chronicles his hilarious and heartwarming first year as a peacock owner, from struggling to build a pen to assisting the local bird doctor in surgery to triumphantly watching a peahen lay her first egg. He also examines the history of peacocks, from their appearance in the Garden of Eden to their befuddling Charles Darwin to their bewitching the likes of Flannery O'Connor and Martha Stewart. And fueled by a reporter's curiosity, he travels across the globe to learn more about the birds firsthand, with stops including a Scottish castle where peacocks have resided for centuries, a southern California community tormented by a serial killer of peacocks, and a Kansas City airport hotel hosting an annual gathering of true peafowl aficionados.
At turns comically absurd and deeply poignant, Why Peacocks? blends lively, insightful memoir and illuminating science journalism to answer the title's question. More than that, it offers surprising lessons about love, grief, fatherhood, and family.
"[W]ry and moving...Flynn brings the birds to life as characters...and a conversation he has with his son about animal death is especially touching. Fans of Lauren Scheuer's Once Upon a Flock should give this a look." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"As readers follow Flynn's journey, his clever insights and pleasing prose style will leave them alternating between moments of shock and bursts of laughter. In the last few chapters, however, the tone shifts into a more somber mode...Though not the most profound meditation, the book makes for pleasant reading, especially for bird lovers. A unique journey punctuated with insight, humor, and lessons learned." - Kirkus Reviews
"Sean Flynn's writing has an easy, genuine flow, like a friend telling a story over dinner, and in this charming book his story is about peacocks. He is entirely successful in answering the question in the title, but saying this is a book about peacocks seems inadequate. It ends up being about so much more." - David Sibley, author of the New York Times bestsellers What It's Like to Be a Bird and The Sibley Guide to Birds
"Why Peacocks? is a wonderful book. At times moving and at times hilarious, always well written, it's a story about family life and love, pets and peacocks, that evolves into an investigation of one of evolution's biggest mysteries: Why does beauty exist?" - Patrik Svensson, author of the international bestseller The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World
"A truly wise and tender sparkler of a book. Weaving memoir, history, reportage, and mythology, Sean Flynn tells not just a quirky story about iridescent birds but a more profound one about family and parenthood, the innocence of childhood and our own mortality. I read it in one gulp, moved and humored and carried away by Flynn's heart and artistry as a master storyteller." - Michael Paterniti, author of the New York Times bestseller The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese
This information about Why Peacocks? was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sean Flynn is a National Magazine Award–winning journalist and author who's reported from six continents during the past thirty years. A long-time correspondent for GQ, his work has been widely anthologized and translated into nearly a dozen languages. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and two boys.
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