The Bird Skinner by Alice Greenway

 

In retirement, Jim Kennoway has retreated to the island home in Maine that has been the family vacation home.  Jim was an ornithologist who worked at the Museum of Natural History until he had to have a leg amputated  He hasn't adjusted well to that, probably because he is drinking way too much and holds a grudge that it was necessary.

One day a young black woman shows up.  This is Cadillac, the daughter of the man who was Jim's scout on the Solomon Islands during World War II.  She is heading to Harvard to start her studies in medicine at the end of the summer and her father has sent her to stay with Jim for the summer although they haven't had any communication in years.  Befuddled by her presence but feeling the tug of gratitude to her father, Jim agrees to her stay. 

As the summer progresses, Jim gets steadily worse while Cadillac forms a friendship with Jim's son.  But scandal is brewing.  During the war, Jim and Tosca had killed three Japanese soldiers and preserved their heads the same way Jim has always preserved birds.  Word of this is about to break as an intern at the museum has uncovered it while searching all files.  

Alice Greenway grew up around the world with a father who was a diplomat.  This was Greenway's second novel.  At times the purpose of the book seems unclear.  Is it the story of a lonely man whose life is ending in alcohol and bitterness?  Is Cadillac there to be the hope of the future?  Is it fair to judge someone by an event that happened long ago and was common at the time or acknowledge that it was a war crime and against the morals we hold?  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.