Title: The Fortune of Sparrows
Author: Usman T. Malik
In: Black Feathers (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Horror
Dates read: 12th March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Pegasus Books Ltd.
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: Still, I sometimes dreamed.

A home for young girls is haunted by sparrows, but when one of the sisters gets sent off to become a wife, they slowly disappear.

Like a lot of the short stories in Black Feathers, this tale had a very surreal and uncomfortable quality. It was haunting and kind of beautiful. But there was almost a sense of floating while I was reading this (alright, I can’t think of a better way to describe the experience of reading this short story other than floating…)

I never really thought that there was something scary about sparrows. After all, they’re kind of small and petite. They might be in flocks, but they always look so damn cute. Until you get to know a little more about them, and even when you do, they’re still too cute to imagine them being a little scary! But, this story with the flocks hovering through the courtyard and the movements of them all together, makes them a lot more intimidating. And I really don’t know how I’m going to feel the next time I find a flock of sparrows.

<- Blyth’s Secret Review

Pigeon from Hell Review ->

Image source: Amazon