WHISTLING WOMEN AND CROWING HENS
a debut novel by Melora Fern
Coming May 16 2025!
To escape her strait-laced overbearing sister, Birdie Stauffer auditions for the all-female Versatile Quintet, Westdale Chautauqua Circuit’s opening act. Through this train-traveling roadshow she experiences the tumultuous 1920’s, a modern era of shocking flappers and smuggled whiskey, with the camaraderie of newfound friends. Birdie finds herself entangled in two romantic relationships and learns that her whistling is not just for the birds but for Circuit tent audiences from Pennsylvania to Canada and back again.
As Birdie travels with the Versatile Quintet—a slang slinging flapper, a confident girl-next-door, a tight-lipped loner, and a brilliant, spirited lesbian—she navigates what it means to be a woman in an unconventional changing world. Through a series of traumatic events, Birdie learns that even the best relationships can be filled with conflict and misunderstandings, and she’ll need to trust her intuition to guide her toward her own unique song. But in doing so, she risks losing those she loves the most.
My grandma, Verna, with her trombone
How the story came to be
This story ignited when I discovered my grandmother’s scrapbook and programs from her years of performance whistling with a real Chautauqua circuit. Within weeks, Birdie and her Versatile Quintet friends inhabited my mind and have been living with me ever since.
All photos sourced from family albums from Melora Fern