The Birdcage Library: A spellbinding novel of hidden clues and dark obsession

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Narrated by a Jewish merchant named Eli Ben Abram, Hunt’s tale is set in 1521 Mexica, vulnerable beneath an ominously smoking volcano as a pandemic rages and news comes of a fleet of ships heading their way led by Benmassoud, an Islamic military leader with a fearsome reputation. One wrong foot either way, however, with too much or too little revealed, too early or too late and the entire beguiling narrative, at least the envisaged one, falls into a messy pile of red herrings, slight-if-hands and enigmatic moments. The treasure hunt element really gripped me with it’s mystery and clue-finding elements. I really felt a part of the puzzle and a sense of accomplishment alongside Emily. The story feels like a perfect balance of historical fiction and an intriguing mystery novel. Freya Berry really married the two genre elements well. The allegory of birds and cages is all throughout this novel. In a physical sense, the birds that were kept in stylish cages (Hester's time), and metaphorically, a woman's place in society/home/the world. I found both Hester and Emily to have much in common, and genuinely enjoyed each woman's chapters. They were both emotionally potent and riveting in a thrilling/survival sense. The Birdcage Library is a historical novel with two separate perspectives told about fifty years apart. We meet Emmy, our protagonist as she is given a commission to catalogue a taxidermy collection at a remote property in Scotland.

If that’s the book I’ve swiped from the front display table of our mutual bookshop, held up to you, tapped its cover and said: “Mark my words, this is the one to save for your holidays,” there are plenty of others alongside it well worthy of your consideration. Now we’re all grown up we’re expected to make a short hop from summer specials to something similarly undemanding. If summer holiday reading is about escaping, about having more time to read away from the constant sleeve-tugging of the working week and being able to do it in relaxed surroundings, then we should just read exactly what we want.I adored how rich and visceral the descriptions were and felt they definitely brought 19th C New York and 1930s Scotland to life. And was equally impressed by the depth and complexity Freya Berry manages to imbue her characters with. Even the more antagonistic characters, prone to bouts of cruelty and avarice were really well written (though not nearly as in-depth as Emily or Hester.) Having lost a huge chunk of wealth to the financial crash, Emily needs the reward money that finding Heinrich Vogel’s prized heirloom will earn her—an heirloom which disappeared along with his brother after Hester’s untimely death. To that end, we've rounded up the most exciting, thoughtful and perspective-altering reads of the summer, from the second novel of Emma Cline, who stunned the world with her 2016 debut, The Girls, to Rebecca Kuang's much-lauded Yellowface, an arch satire of the publishing industry and a truly brazen takedown of cancel culture. Emmy is a wonderful character as she is based on someone real whom the author says has fascinated her for many years. Freya Stark ( I love the fact the author shares a name with her!) was a real adventurer in Papua New Guinea. The wonderment of these scenes was delicious. Here’s a woman who has been searching for rare plants and treasures in a far and distant world, now been called to Scotland to catalogue dead animals. She’s a complex character with a past which was unravelled at a very nice pace indeed. But, of course, what would a blindingly good mystery be, or a mystery within a mystery, if there weren’t broken, fallible people at its core?

While the treasure-hunting notion is not necessarily my favourite choice to read about, this book is so much more than that. The birdcage metaphor is so strong and persistent in this story, which eventually becomes a key component of the story and a huge clue in the mystery. No decision, especially ones made under stress of any kind, has no consequences, and so it is in The Birdcage Library which is an instructive lesson in how a momentary twist of the existential knife or a caving into the demands of the heart can have far-reaching repercussions down the decades, so much so that dealing with becomes both a thing of sorrow and terror, depending on where you are standing when the consequential birds of your flawed decision-making come home to roost. Lose yourself in a rich, spellbinding story of long-buried secrets and dark obsession from Freya Berry, author of The Dictator’s Wife, as seen on BBC2 Between the Covers. Emily is given the task to find a long-lost treasure which Heinrich believes has been cloistered, and concealed within the remains of the castle, but how can this be when he has been a resident for so many years for there cannot be left anything of note to discover, surely?PDF / EPUB File Name: The_Birdcage_Library_-_Freya_Berry.pdf, The_Birdcage_Library_-_Freya_Berry.epub

Freya Berry always loved stories, but it took several years as a journalist to realise she loves the kind of truth that lies in fiction, not reality. (Or, to put it another way, making stuff up is more fun.)

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Character voices were distinct, they were interesting. Emmy is likeable but flawed enough to never feel dull. Her intelligence shines through and her inquisitive and empathetic mind helps her to unravel what has been purposely designed as a complex mystery. A thoroughly entertaining read. I will definitely read Freya's first novel and any others she writes.