A Little Bird - Wendy James - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Wendy James

GENRE: Contemporary Mystery

PUBLICATION DATE: November 30, 2021

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A slow-paced, engrossing tale of past secrets and lies revealing themselves to a young woman on her return home.

Story:

Just out of a bad relationship, Jo Sharpe, a journalist, heads back to her hometown to work with the local community newspaper. Her return comes after many years, as she had wanted to escape the memories of her childhood, what with the sudden disappearance of her mother and younger sister from their lives, leaving her father drowning his sorrows in alcohol and Jo all alone. Now an adult, Jo is determined to dig deeper into the mystery, but soon realises that not everything is as it had appeared earlier.

The story comes to us from the first person perspective of Jo in 2018, Jo in 1993 and the third person pov of her mother Merry from 1985 onwards.

This was quite an interesting story though the pace kept going up and down. The prologue set in 1994 grabbed my attention right from the start. (I love books that get their prologue right. So many books just include an excerpt from the latter half of the book in the name of a prologue. The right amount of intrigue must be created without revealing any spoiler. This book’s prologue gets a 10/5.) I was completely hooked until 35% or so, then the pace dipped a bit and my interest went a little down, until a big reveal around the midway mark and my speed sprang up again. This sustained for a few chapters and then again the pace went down. But regardless of the pace, the story was captivating enough to keep me hooked until the end. I was not able to guess the resolution of the key suspense point of the novel -- Merry’s abrupt disappearance from the life of her family -- and that added to my satisfaction. The actual revelation seemed a little farfetched but not so much that it couldn’t be accepted.

Unlike whatever I have read so far that is set in Australia, this book doesn’t show the usual sand and surf and cityscapes of the vast continent. Instead, the story is set in Arthurville, a town in New South Wales and part of the Australian outback with red dirt and extreme drought and dry heat. (See the cover!) It was a great experience to see this newer side of Australia through a novel. And it was even more wonderful to see this setting being used to the maximum in the storyline. It isn’t just a story in Australia; it’s a story IN Australia!

The key characters of the story are carved very well. Not just Jo and Merry but the other town residents also have strong and distinct personalities that impact the story in the right way. They are also not uni-dimensional but well-layered. Some are stereotypical but even within the clichéd portrayals, they spring some surprises at us. Thus most of the people come across as realistic and believable, a huge plus. The characters also include some Wiradjuri people, bonus points for bringing in genuineness to the narrative by including the Aboriginal Australian people.

Another plus point is how it assimilates Aussie lingo into the writing seamlessly. Australian English has a lot of its own idiosyncrasies but hardly any novel incorporates these amazing regional touches into the content, that too so naturally. What’s even more wonderful is that the author doesn’t bother to explain the words to us. You read, you guess the meaning, or you check in your dictionary. If you want to increase your knowledge of “Australian English” beyond the banal “mate”, this is a great book to go for. I simply loved the authenticity of the language and the approach of the author.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Except for the pace issues, I didn’t find much else to take away from my experience. The narrative is not entirely predictable, and the writing is pretty captivating. Most importantly, the story stays true to the locale. Much recommended if you want to read a slow but engrossing, character-driven domestic thriller that brings rural Australia alive in your mind.

I loved these two quotes from the book:

♦ "Change for the sake of change isn't necessarily a good thing."

♦ "Hope doesn’t rely on possibilities or probabilities or proof—all it needs is a ready heart, an open mind."

My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of “A Little Bird”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.