Wings of Desire

In her second novel, The Bird Catcher (St. Martin's), celebrated dance critic and V.F. contributing editor Laura Jacobs firmly establishes herself as one of our most astute and elegant observers of a certain rarefied species of female Manhattanite.

With an ear trained to capture the nuances of dialogue like birdsong—the trilling of New York galleristas, the call and response between husband and wife—Jacobs records the flight paths of a 31 -year-old fledgling artist, Margret Snow, from her regular weekend country-home migrations to bird-watching trips with her academic husband in Central Park, and from a wonderfully shocking detour into the art-world spotlight to her own success. An enchanting tick for the Reader's Life List.

E.S.