Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is the debut book by Max Porter, a novella about grief, published in 2015.

Details

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is a "book about death and its grief-stricken consolations – love and art" through the story "of a grieving writer and father of two young boys, who is coming to terms with the death of his wife while writing a book about Ted Hughes". It uses text, dialogue and poetry. The book is narrated from rapidly alternating perspectives: the Dad, the Boys, and Crow—a human-sized bird that can speak, "equal parts babysitter, philosopher and therapist" to the family.
The title refers to a poem by Emily Dickinson, "Hope' is the thing with feathers". Crow is the Crow from Ted Hughes' 1970 poetry book.

Adaptations

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers was adapted into a play of the same name, directed by Enda Walsh and starring Cillian Murphy.
A film adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch, titled The Thing with Feathers premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2025.