Now a Major Motion Picture from Lions Gate Films, Starring William Hurt, Molly Parker and Andy Jones

Dave Purcell is ready to call it quits on his marriage and his restaurant, The Auk. His wife has left for a posting at a Washington D.C. think tank and the restaurant, built on a remote cliff on Push Cove, Newfoundland, never really took off. Dave spends his days consuming the rare delights of his well-stocked wine cellar and larder. All seems lost until Dave’s neighbour, Alphonse Murphy, comes up with an ingenious scheme to save The Auk.

Edward Riche is an award-winning author, screenwriter, and playwright. His previous novels include Rare Birds, which was adapted into a major motion picture starring William Hurt and Molly Parker, and his second novel, The Nine Planets, won the Thomas Head Raddall Award. His writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, and the Telegram. Edward lives in St. John's, Newfoundland.

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“Rare Birds is a rare treat. Nasty and delicious, boiling with caustic wit, it will stay with you for a long time.”
—Rick Mercer

“One good story this one . . . as classy as it is irreverent.”
—Tomson Highway

“Uproarious . . . Rare Birds is a farce that is particularly Newfoundland in its sense of humour, at once slapstick and satire. . . . Comedy is replacing cod as the number one export of the Atlantic provinces.”
—Russell Smith, The Globe and Mail

“Readers will be hooting out loud . . . Riche displays a flair for hip urban social comedy.”
—Sandra Gwyn, Maclean’s

“Rare Birds is a richly comic satire of addiction, extinction, and new beginnings.”
—Saturday Night magazine