“I Was On A Treasure Hunt” – Ann B. Parson On Her Fascinating Debut Novel

Readers hungry for historical fiction will find lots to savor in Ann B. Parson’s The Birds Of Dog. Parson, an accomplished science journalist and author of several nonfiction books, lends her journalistic acumen to this tale centered on Catherine Pickering, a curator’s assistant at Boston’s Society of Natural History. Catherine is a fictional member of Massachusetts’s very real Pickering family, whose members included many notable scientists. The Birds of Dog takes form in a series of letters written between Catherine and her cousin, Charles, an acclaimed zoologist who has been dispatched on an exploratory mission to the South Seas. Through their correspondence, Parson immerses the reader in the world of nineteenth century Boston, highlighting the rapid technological changes of the era, the complicated association between hunting and scientific research, and Catherine’s developing relationship with the famed inventor James Cutting. Readers will fall under the spell of Catherine, whose reverence for the natural world and innate curiosity to better understand it propels the novel. Parson spoke with us about her introduction to the Pickerings, delving into the nineteenth century scientific world, and how working on the book was like being on a treasure hunt.