This 1994 National Book Award finalist tells the story of Fabian Vas, a bird artist, who draws and paints the birds of his remote Newfoundland coastal village home. His confession that he has murdered the lighthouse keeper begins a measured, profoundly engrossing tale of passion, betrayal, guilt, and retribution.

Howard Norman's The Bird Artist, the first book of his Canadian trilogy, begins in 1911. Its narrator, Fabian Vas is a bird artist: He draws and paints the birds of Witless Bay, his remote Newfoundland coastal village home. In the first paragraph of his tale Fabian reveals that he has murdered the village lighthouse keeper, Botho August. Later, he confesses who and what drove him to his crime--a measured, profoundly engrossing story of passion, betrayal, guilt, and redemption between men and women.

The Bird Artist is a 1994 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction.