You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

Good afternoon and welcome to Bookworm.

Today, my guest is Bobby Ann Mason.

I'm Michael Silverblatt,

and we're here to talk about her new novel,

Feathered Crowns, recently published by Harper Collins.

She's the author, of course, as well of the book Shiloh and other stories,

the novels in Country, Spence and Lila, Love Life,

and now Feathered Crows.

Now, I noticed when I was reading this book, I began to feel that it was sort of like a fugue,

and I noticed symmetries dancing around it.

For instance, at the beginning of the book in the year

1900, the heroine of the book, Christiana, has given birth to quintuplets at the end of the

book in the time frame proper before the present, and she begins her own narration.

She's about to visit the Dionne Quintuplets.

In the first chapter, her aunt's apron, I think, is described as white as a new tooth,

and it seems to shout at her.

In the final chapter of 1900, the Capitol building is white as a new tooth and it seems to shout at her. In the final chapter of 1900, the Capitol building is white as a new tooth and seems to shout at her.

Is that right?

...