The Yellow Birds - Hardcover

'Remarkable for its intensity of both feeling and expression. In this book about death, every line is a defiant assertion of the power of beauty to revivify, whether beauty shows itself in nature or (later) in art. Graves, Owen and Sassoon would have recognised this war and the strange poetry it has bred.' (HILARY MANTEL, GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR )

'An extraordinary novel . . . remarkable . . . stands with Tim O'Brien's enduring Vietnam book, The Things They Carried, as a classic of contemporary war fiction . . . brilliantly observed and deeply affecting.' (MICHIKO KAKUTANI, NEW YORK TIMES )

'A stunning achievement, visceral [and] poignant.' (SUNDAY TIMES )

'A masterpiece ... a classic.' (THE TIMESBOOKS OF THE YEAR )

'THE YELLOW BIRDS is a wonderful, powerful novel that moves and terrifies.' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

'Tautly written and unforgiving in its depiction of the human cost of war.' (THE TIMES )

'I found in THE YELLOW BIRDS by Kevin Powers a vivid, poetic account of modern warfare. Powers joined the US Marines at 17, going on to serve as a machine gunner in Iraq, and each line bleeds hard-fought truths.' (RICHARD GODWIN, EVENING STANDARD BOOKS OF THE YEAR )

'Powers has written a compassionate, poetic evocation of war and its legacy which has already been hailed as a classic of its genre.' (SUNDAY EXPRESS, BOOKS OF THE YEAR )

'One of the best war novels for years.' (JOHN BURNSIDE, SCOTSMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR )

'Harrowing, inexplicably beautiful, and utterly, urgently necessary.'

(ANN PATCHETT, Orange Prizewinning author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder )

'Kevin Powers has conjured a poetic and devastating account of war's effect on the individual.'

(DAMIAN LEWIS, star of Homeland and Band of Brothers )

'Extraordinarily well-written . . . brilliant . . . he's just a really, really beautiful writer . . . everyone will be reading it.' (ALEX HEMINSLEY, BBC RADIO 2 ARTS SHOW )

'Reaffirms the power of fiction to tell the truth about the unspeakable ... a superb literary achievement. I urge everyone to read it.' (CHRIS CLEAVE, author of The Other Hand and Gold )

'Written with an intensity which is deeply compelling.' (COLM TÓIBÍN, author of Brooklyn and The Master )

'This is a novel I've been waiting for. THE YELLOW BIRDS is born from experience and rendered with compassion and intelligence. All of us owe Kevin Powers our heartfelt gratitude.' 

(ALICE SEBOLD, author of The Lovely Bones )

' . . . One of those books that knocks your perceptions into new alignment permanently.' (BARBARA KINGSOLVER )

'THE YELLOW BIRDS is the All Quiet on the Western Front of America's Arab Wars.'

(TOM WOLFE, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities )

'[Powers] has forged a harrowing, enormously powerful first novel . . . Powers' writing is also attentive to nature and landscape, and he manages to entertain contradictory notions of beauty and horror. Wasn't that Fitzgerald's definition of genius?' (FINANCIAL TIMES )

'Kevin Powers' lyrical account of war's deep impact on the individual is an important addition to the tradition of American war fiction and perhaps the first great novel to emerge from the long, intractable conflicts in the Middle East.' --(
'Kevin Powers' lyrical account of war's deep impact on the individual is an important addition to the tradition of American war fiction and perhaps the first great novel to emerge from the long, intractable conflicts in the Middle East.' JOHN BURNSIDE, SCOTSMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Next to The Forever War by Dexter Filkins, it is the best thing I ve read about the war in Iraq, and by far the best novel. Powers is a poet first, so the book is spare, incredibly precise, unimproveable DAVE EGGERS, --OBSERVER BOOKS OF THE YEAR

'Terrific . . . vivid [and] gripping. A very much needed book.'MARGARET FORSTER, author of Diary of an Ordinary Woman

'What happens to soldiers at war? THE YELLOW BIRDS delivers answers that should rightfully unnerve us, if we're still willing ten long years into Iraq and Afghanistan to contemplate 'our little pest of a war.' The human cost is surely beyond any comprehensible measure, but in this haunting, unflinching crucible of a novel, Kevin Powers gives us the essence, with all comfortable, corrupting illusion and rhetoric burned away.'BEN FOUNTAIN, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

'This book epitomises the power of the written word; the language is at once poetic and brutal, vivid and sparse. A stunning, timely and engrossing novel.'BOOKSELLER

'What impresses most here are the mournful and melodious refrains which manage to cultivate beauty and pathos from the smothering chaos and dust.'WE LOVE THIS BOOK

'A book that will make you look good on the bus . . . a powerful tale.'HEAT

'From an opening that suggests The Wasteland to a closing that echoes The Great Gatsby, Kevin Powers has crafted one of the most beguiling and beautiful war novels of recent times . . . it's soul spills out over every poetic page.' --RTE GUIDE

An unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, THE YELLOW BIRDS is already being hailed as a modern classic.