Bird Boy

Will doesn’t want to stay with his uncle Ian. He doesn’t want to live in the middle of nowhere. He doesn’t want to leave his mum’s flat or the city he grew up in and he definitely doesn’t want to learn how to trust a new adult.

Unfortunately for Will, he doesn’t have a choice. When he loses his mother in a car accident, he is forced to accept these alien circumstances while battling a private grief that threatens to overwhelm him. 

It is only when Will rescues an injured osprey chick that his life begins to change. He devotes himself to nurturing and caring for the bird with his new friend Omar, a refugee from Afghanistan who is recovering from his own traumatic experiences. As the bird slowly heals, Will realises that he is healing too. He slowly learns to love his gruff uncle and begins to find joy and solace in his new life in the wilderness. 

Following the acclaim of No Ballet Shoes in Syria, author Catherine Bruton delivers another hard-hitting yet therapeutic masterpiece with Bird Boy. 

This beautifully written and intensely emotive story explores challenging themes including mental illness, depression, bereavement and displacement – but does so with a reassuring and ultimately optimistic sensitivity.  

Pan fo Will yn colli ei fam mewn damwain car, mae’n rhaid iddo symud i dŷ ei ewythr sarrug yng nghefn gwlad. Mae Will yn dioddef gyda galar, ond mae ei fywyd yn dechrau gweddnewid pan fydd e a’i ffrind newydd Omar, sy’n ffoadur, yn meithrin cyw gwalch yn ôl i iechyd.

Mae’r stori hon sydd wedi’i hysgrifennu’n hyfryd hefyd yn eithriadol o emosiynol. Mae’r testun hwn yn archwilio themâu heriol gan gynnwys salwch meddwl, iselder, profedigaeth a dadleoliad gyda sensitifrwydd mawr.