![]() ![]() Her researcher instincts activated, Rooney learned that Cher Ami, a British homing pigeon, helped save a group of American troops known as the “Lost Battalion” during a horrific, multiday World War I battle. “A student named Brian referenced Cher Ami in a poem and said to me, ‘Look it up!’ Of course, I did-and it blew my mind that this pigeon was so heroic and is stuffed and on display in the Smithsonian.” Rooney, perhaps best known for her 2017 bestseller, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, says her interest in a feathered narrator was sparked by one of her students at DePaul University, where she is an English professor. “If you watch them, they’re such good fliers. . . . She rejects the idea of pigeons as rats with wings. “A lot of people dislike and malign pigeons, but I never have,” Rooney says from her Chicago home, where she lives with her spouse, author Martin Seay. But to the self-described animal lover, assuming a bird’s POV made perfect sense. ![]() Kathleen Rooney knew that writing half of her new book, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey, from the point of view of a pigeon was a risk. An intrepid pigeon and a patient war hero are at the heart of this sweet and creative novel set during World War I. ![]()
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