The History of Sound: Stories

In 1991, first-person narrator Will Hunt is living in Mule Harbor, where he owns and operates the Grey Saint Inn. Because Mule Harbor doesn’t get a lot of tourists, Will fears he’ll have to close the inn. Even his brother Dan hasn’t come home from Halifax for the holidays. Meanwhile, Will’s wife Nora’s health is failing. She’s started losing her memory for reasons the doctors can’t explain.

One day, lonely and worried, Will visits the library. He discovers a book called The Great Auk, which intrigues him. He checks out the book and delves into the history of the bird in the region. When he encounters an image of an auk egg, he realizes it looks familiar. He goes up to the attic and opens the old box he’d discovered the winter prior. Inside is a great auk egg. Nearby, he finds a taxidermied great auk that once belonged to his great-great-grandfather, Sam.

Will and Dan keep in touch via letters. Uninterested in telling Dan how things are really going, Will gets the idea of playing a joke on him. One day, he takes the taxidermied auk out in his boat and photographs himself near the stuffed bird.