The Bird in Me Flies

The Bird in Me Flies by Sara Lundberg, translated by B.J. Epstein ’01, is a picturebook that tells the story of Swedish artist Berta Hansson (1910-1994).

As a girl growing up in a small Swedish farming village in the 1920s, she has little hope of realizing her dream of becoming an artist. She finds solace in nature and in drawing and shaping birds from clay for her mother, the only person who seems to truly understand her. When her mother succumbs to tuberculosis, Berta feels alone and even more burdened by work on the farm. Can she find the courage to defy her father and the social conventions of her time, and fly free? (Book Island Unlimited, 2020)

“Melancholy and moving.” — Kirkus Reviews