How long does it take to read Birds Without Wings?
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières takes about 11 hours 44 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 11 hours 44 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2004. 640 pages, about 176,000 words.
24 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 19 hours 33 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 11 hours 44 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 7 hours 20 minutes |
The page count is the median across 26 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters, it tells the tragic love story of Philothei and Ibrahim. It also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turkish Nation'. The overarching theme of the story covers the impact of religious intolerance, over-zealous nationalism, and the war that often results. The characters are unwittingly caught up in historical tides outside of their control. The book's title is taken from a saying by one of the characters, Iskander the Potter, "Man is a bird without wings, and a bird is a man without sorrows." The book includes a vivid and detailed description of the horrors of life in the trenches during World War I. Some of the characters are also present in the author's earlier novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
Subjects: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, History, Social conditions, Fiction, Fathers and sons
