AND STILL THE BIRD SINGS

A memoir about one woman’s tragic loss of her son and her mystical journey to spiritual peace.

In 2012, less than two months after his 15th birthday, Brendan Broder accepted a dangerous “choking challenge” he found online that went terribly wrong, leading to his accidental death by his own hand. He was the firstborn of the author’s three children, and his death was a devastating blow. The day after the tragic event, as the family sat around the dining room table grieving, they found a small sparrow in the house. Broder’s husband, Michael, retrieved the bird and released it. Looking down at his empty cupped hands in wonder, he declared, “It’s Brendan.” The disbelieving author remained silent, but it was the first step in the couple’s quest to find a mystical connection with their beloved son. Eventually, the author asserts, they were able to contact him through a medium. Broder expertly alternates between the past and present as she brings readers through the first year after the loss of her son. Decisions, events, and encounters trigger memories that fill in the author’s backstory. For instance, she recounts how music has always played a critical role in her life and how, at the time of the tragedy, she was a passionately involved piano teacher. Part of the magic of her memoir comes from descriptions of her physical relationship with music, as in a passage set during the early days of her grieving, playing just the piano’s seven D’s, which she used to teach Brendan how to play: “I swayed a bit, moving toward the sound, like a magnet pulling me in. The notes layered on top of each other. They moved around me until I was wrapped in sound and story.” Throughout, her musical sense of tempo, cadence, and drama is reflected in her meticulous, well-paced prose. Overall, she’s a compelling storyteller who makes her emotionally charged, unconventional, and progressively spiritual tale accessible even to those without mystical inclinations.

An engaging, provocative remembrance with an enticing, otherworldly core.