Solomon Islands, went on natural history expeditions to far-flung locations, and worked at the American Museum of Natural History. The one key difference is that in the novel, the fictional "Kennoway" mourned "the death of his beautiful wife," who died young. The real Greenway, in contrast, divorced his first wife in order to marry his mistress. The fact that The Bird Skinner is a semi-fictionalized account of the author's grandfather's life — with a sanitized version of his marital life — gives readers a much better appreciation of the book and the author's motivations. References 1903 births 1989 deaths Lauder Greenway Family People from Greenwich, Connecticut Scientists from New York City Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Yale University alumni American ornithologists Harvard University staff People associated with the American Museum of Natural History 20th-century American zoologists Recipients of the Order of the Dragon of Annam