A Book I Didn't Want To End

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I love it when I am enjoying a book so much that I don't want it to end.

This was how I felt reading this second novel by the original and remarkably talented Evie Wyld. Her writing grabs you by the throat and heart and doesn't let go. With 'All The Birds, Singing', she allows you to think you know what is happening and why it has happened, but then gradually lets you realise that you don't have a clue. Quite apart from the poetic, gritty quality of her prose, this alone is enough to keep you turning the pages as you would a thriller.

The story is set between past events in Australia and current events in England. There are sheep-shearers and catastrophe and loneliness, not to mention quests for redemption and love, but all of it managed through suspenseful story-telling and a wonderful deftness of touch. Every character is flawed, damaged, vulnerable, making them all the more painfully believable. As in life, no one is completely evil or completely good. The time-lines interweave ingeniously, one narrative taking you back towards the starting point of the drama, while the other pushes forwards to the resolution of current events The sheer structure of that alone is a delight, and seamlessly executed.

Don't be put off by the sheep-shearing. Everything Wyld writes about animals is as compelling as what she has to say about humans. In fact, two of the stand-out 'characters' for me were dogs, one terrifying - soured and vicious - the other so loving and loyal that you feared for its safety as much as that of its owner. To say more would interfere with the pleasure in store for anyone intrigued enough to check out this fantastic book for themselves.





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