Kirkus Reviews QR Code
WHY HAVE THE BIRDS STOPPED SINGING? by Zoa Sherburne

WHY HAVE THE BIRDS STOPPED SINGING?

By

Pub Date: March 27th, 1974
Publisher: Morrow

Lessons on the pathology of epilepsy -- a disease we're told is not inherited but which is shared by Katie and her great-great-great-grandmother -- establish the framework for this rhetorical exercise in psychic projection. Katie becomes increasingly sensitive to the past when her summer tour group arrives in her ancestor's old home town and, after exploring the site of a decayed mansion, Katie slips through a seizure and right into the shoes of her namesake and great-great-great. . . who is about to be committed as a mental patient by a greedy uncle. Katie-as-Kathy's elopement with a loyal, loving hired hand would be romantic under any circumstances, but with Katie fully aware of her real identity all the while (and no explanation of what became in the meantime of the real Kathy) this is definitely one of the less subtle ventures in time travel -- apparently this season's preferred mode of transportation. Petit mal.