In the Shadow of Crows
Connected via the fictional town of St Anne’ s, a community along Nova Scotia’ s western shore, each story takes its title from the children’ s rhyme Counting Crows.
One for sorrow, two for joy,
three for a message, four for a boy,
five for silver, six for gold,
seven for a secret never to be told.
Within each tale an individual (often from the same family, always from the same town) will note the number of crows in their midst and recall the poem as it relates to the prophecy and the story at hand. Between the last century and the current one, the characters (for the most part, women) walk a shifting landscape carved out by war, poverty, and patriarchal expectations. Beneath the gaze of a small town and these intelligent birds whose memories are unforgiving, we are as close as a heartbeat to the souls upon these pages.
Born in Nova Scotia, M.V.Feehan has lived, worked and studied throughout Canada, the United States and Ireland. Her writing, fed by place and the souls inhabiting them, speaks from the blue and pink collar world she hails from and navigates. She completed her MPhil in Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin in May 2021. Her work has appeared in North American and European journals. She lives with her family on Cape Breton Island. In the Shadow of Crows is her first collection of short stories.
