Title: A LITTLE BIRD
Author: Wendy James
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Read: September 2021
Expected publication: 30 November 2021
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Book Description:
Running from a bad relationship,
journalist Jo Sharpe heads home to Arthurville, the drought-stricken town she
turned her back on years earlier. While some things have changed—her
relationship with her ailing, crotchety father, her new job at the community
newspaper—Jo finds that her return has rekindled the grief and uncertainty she
experienced during her childhood following the inexplicable disappearance of
her mother and baby sister.
Returning to Arthurville has its unexpected pleasures, though, as Jo happily
reconnects with old friends and makes a few new ones. But she can’t let go of
her search for answers to that long-ago mystery. And as she keeps
investigating, the splash she’s making begins to ripple outward—far beyond the
disappearance of her mother and sister.
Jo is determined to dig as deep as it takes to get answers. But it’s not long
before she realises that someone among the familiar faces doesn’t want her
picking through the debris of the past. And they’ll go to any lengths to
silence the little bird before she sings the truth.
My musings:
Wendy James has long been a go-to author when I
crave a good Australian mystery, so I was excited to see that she has a new
book coming out! Jo Sharpe, her main protagonist in A LITTLE BIRD, is a
journalist who returns to her small rural hometown to look after her ailing
father and take on a position at the local paper, The Chronicle. Arthurville
holds mixed memories for her, mostly connected to the abandonment by her mother
and baby sister twenty years ago, with only a short note telling Jo’s father
not to look for them. Jo still cannot come to terms with the fact that her
mother would just up and leave her older child behind and is keen to talk to
people who knew her and can shed some light on her mental state at the time of
her disappearance.
James masterfully recreates the
claustrophobic atmosphere of a remote, close-knit rural community rife with
gossip and speculation. It made a perfect backdrop to this slow, character
driven mystery and added some colourful characters into the mix. I loved to get
an insight into Jo’s grief and confusion related to her mother’s abandonment,
and her longing for answers. As someone who also lost her mother as a child, I
could easily understand the gaping hole her mother’s absence has left in her
heart.
Rolling out in two separate
timeframes, A LITTLE BIRD will work towards answering Jo’s many questions, even
though the ending was not something I had anticipated. As with her previous
book THE ACCUSATION, James uses her insight into the human psyche and her
excellent characterisations to build an air of mystery and tension, which was
my favourite part of the story and one that will make me come back for more of
her stories in future. Atmospheric and insightful, the book captured my heart
and kept me turning the pages, breaking my heart bit by bit as the story
progressed. Readers who enjoy a slower, character driven mystery with a small
town setting should definitely pick this one up!
Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union
Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the
opportunity to provide an honest review.
I’ll have to look for this one too, I’ve always enjoyed Wendy James books. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
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