Ask a Bookseller: ‘Crow Talk’ by Eileen Garvin

Ask a Bookseller: ‘Crow Talk’ by Eileen Garvin

From Ask a Bookseller by Minnesota Public Radio

April 4, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

Charlotte Glover recommends Eileen Garvin's novel 'Crow Talk', highlighting its immersive nature and character development.

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Charlotte Glover of Parnassus Books and Gifts in Ketchikan, Alaska, recommends a novel that will immerse you deeply in the Pacific Northwest. She appreciates the lovely characters, focus on nature, and beautiful writing of Eileen Garvin’s novel “Crow Talk.” Garvin gained national attention for her novel “The Music of Bees,” and her new novel “Bumblebee Season” comes out April 21. For Glover, it was the mention of crows in the title that first drew her to “Crow Talk”: crows and ravens are of huge importance across the Pacific Northwest, from her bookstore’s location in the Alaskan panhandle to the novel’s setting in the Hood River area of Oregon. The story follows Frankie, an ornithologist who has retreated to a small family cabin by a lake to mourn the loss of her father and figure out a path to finish her dissertation on spotted owls. It’s autumn, and the only other residents are a family, Anne and Tim and their five-year-old autistic son, who isn't speaking. As Glover explains, these lonely, wayward characters find each…

People in this episode

Host: Minnesota Public Radio

Guest: Charlotte Glover

Topics covered

  • book recommendations
  • independent booksellers
  • Pacific Northwest literature
  • nature in literature
  • character-driven stories

Keywords

  • Crow Talk
  • Eileen Garvin
  • Charlotte Glover
  • Pacific Northwest
  • nature
  • books
  • independent booksellers

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Crow Talk, The Music of Bees, Bumblebee Season

Places: Alaska, Hood River, Oregon

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