Birdsong (novel) on how the novel, like many other WWI novels, thematically focuses on the way in which the experience of trauma shapes individual psyches. Similarly, because of the parallel narratives WWI and 1970s Britain, the novel explores metahistorical questions about how to document and recover narratives about the past. Because of its genre, themes and writing style, the novel has been favourably compared to a number of other war novels, like Ian McEwan's "Atonement" and those in Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy. "Birdsong" is part of a loose trilogy of novels by Sebastian Faulks, alongside "The Girl at the Lion d'Or" and
Birdsong (TV serial) two German soldiers, who tell him that the war is over. Unlike in the novel, Stephen meets Françoise before the war is over and Jeanne implores him to be a part of her life; after the war he is seen showing up at Jeanne's house to be with her and his daughter. Whereas in the novel Stephen is terrified of birds, the television adaptation does not explore this although birdsong is frequently heard. Working Title held the screen rights to the novel for many years, but were quoted as saying "there is something afoot" after Faulks' 2007 commission to write