The Strange Courtship of Abigail Bird

Beset by awkward interpersonal skills and an obsession with classic literature, Ishmael Archer seems destined for the lonely life of a literature professor at Longfellow College. While he yearns for female companionship, a recent acrimonious divorce has left him in a state of fragility. Struggling to pay his rent, Ishmael is obliged to undertake one of his most dreaded tasks: teach a summer creative writing class. Convinced that he will be saddled with a group of malcontents who care not a whit for Tolstoy or Dickens, Ishmael is delighted to encounter the luminescent Abigail Bird, whose passion for literature equals his own. Their burgeoning romance is cut abruptly short when Abigail suffers a traumatic head wound and falls into a coma. When she finally awakes, Abigail is inexplicably changed, and Ishmael must find a way to reach the girl with whom he had originally fallen in love. Peppered with an enthralling cast of characters—a college dean obsessed with orchids, a Greek landlord with a deep affinity for the works of Ernest Hemingway, and a self-important writer who vies with Archer for Abigail’s affections—The Strange Courtship of Abigail Bird is a heartwarming tale of love, loss, and rediscovery.

A former editorial staffer at Esquire and Playboy, John Blumenthal has written eight books. His work has also appeared in TV Guide, Punch, The National Lampoon, Salon, Huffington Post, and Publisher’s Weekly, among others.