“Birdcage Walk” by Helen Dunmore 

This month’s review is a salute to an author who sadly passed away in the summer soon after this her last novel was published in hardback. It has been out in paperback for a while now, but as a tribute to a great storyteller, and also a poet; her last collection “Inside the Wave” also came out this spring; I thought it fitting to end this year’s reviews with a brief homage to Helen Dunmore

“Birdcage Walk” is set in Bristol in 1792, where the housing boom is underway, until, events across the water in France, with the revolution, disturb the confidence in England. Mounting fear that unrest will cross the channel, disrupts the successful career of John Diner Tredevant. Following the death of his French first wife, Lucie, he has recently married Lizzie Fawkes, the book’s main character, but all is not necessarily as it seems.

The story tells us about Lizzie’s life before her marriage, with her mother and step-father, and how her new husband jealously tries to guard her from them. This theme filters through the book, but we also hear all about the terrace of houses Diner is building, and the escalating problems as his funding dries up when he is unable to sell any properties. His possessiveness increases as his troubles worsen, and then as Lizzie seeks some life away from the home where often her only company is their maid.

The events unfold, but as ever with Helen Dunmore it is the incidental characters she introduces which add so many dimensions to her stories, the descriptions of Clifton, and the dark distant Wales. This is a story to sit and enjoy during the dark winter nights, and we have had many customers who have praised this book, which has already proved a good book selection for reading groups.

This her 15th book ends a career which saw her win the Orange prize in 1996 for “A Spell of Winter”, and to be nominated for many other awards. Her short ghostly tale “The Greatcoat” should not be be missed along with her two novels about Leningrad, “The Siege” during the terrifying events as the Nazi army surrounded the city, and then “The Betrayal” picks up the lives of some of the survivors in 1952 under the oppression of Stalin. There are so many good reads to list, “The Lie” and “Exposure” to name but two of her later books which have been featured in Tewkesbury Direct.  She also wrote for young adults and her five Ingo Chronicles about a Mermaid are always popular reads.

A Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year to all our readers