A novel written by a veteran of the war in Iraq, The
Yellow Birds is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to
stay alive.
"The war tried to kill us in the spring." So
begins this powerful account of friendship and loss. In Al
Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private
Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Bound
together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy
safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for.
In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do
everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side:
the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from
constant danger. As reality begins to
blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world
around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined.