The Birds of Dog: An Historical Novel Based on Mostly True Events
“The sun was out, and the sciences were popping!” In a modified epistolary format, Parson recounts three related stories, connected by narrator, place, and theme. In 1838, real-life American naturalist Charles Pickering set off from his family home in Boston to explore the world and collect specimens for scientific research. The first part of Parson’s novel follows Pickering’s expedition while also relating the mid-century strides in technology and scientific research through letters written to Charles from his fictional cousin Catherine, as she discovers her own conservationist sensibilities and begins a courtship with real-life inventor James Cutting. Part two explores Cutting’s work establishing the first aquarium in Boston in the lead-up to the Civil War, and part three, the 1895 establishment of an Audubon Society for the protection of Boston’s declining bird population.
Meticulously researched and end-noted, the stories and anecdotes provide a stroll through 19th-century Boston ephemera during a time when scientific knowledge was advancing faster than human empathy seemed able to keep up. Peppered with cameos from transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau, affectionately dubbed Hank the Crank, naturalists Audubon and Agassiz, and hoaxers Barnum and Bailey, Parson’s novel brings to life these renowned men without shying away from their less-noble tendencies as she explores the juxtaposition of human ingenuity against its own hubris and short-sightedness. From story to story, Parson catalogs the life-changing inventions which emerged throughout the 19th century and demonstrates the relentless pursuit of knowledge, of fashion, and of wealth, while reflecting on our collective responsibility to protect the natural world from ourselves—themes which may have been emerging one hundred and eighty years ago, but which still deeply resonate today.
