{"product_id":"the-yellow-birds-9780316219341","title":"The Yellow Birds","description":"\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the National Book Award, \u003ci\u003eThe Yellow Birds\u003c\/i\u003e is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive in Iraq.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"The war tried to kill us in the spring.\" So begins this powerful account of friendship and loss. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Bound together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, \u003ci\u003eThe Yellow Birds\u003c\/i\u003e is a groundbreaking novel that is destined to become a classic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKevin Powers\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Yellow Birds\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the PEN\/Hemingway Award, the Guardian First Book Award, and was a National Book Award Finalist, as well as \u003ci\u003eLetter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of poetry. He was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, and holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. He served in the US Army in 2004 and 2005 in Iraq, where he was deployed as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Back Bay Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613929804050,"sku":"9780316219341","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e8f319e1-32f2-41b1-b1da-33b4e4205f7f.jpg?v=1732421923","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-yellow-birds-9780316219341","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}