Tag: literary fiction

Book Review: And The Birds Kept On Singing by Simon Bourke

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AndTheBirdsKeptOnSingingAbout the Book

Pregnant at seventeen, Sinéad McLoughlin does the only thing she can; she runs away from home. She will go to England and put her child up for adoption. But when she lays eyes on it for the first time, lays eyes on him, she knows she can never let him go. Just one problem. He’s already been promised to someone else.  A tale of love and loss, remorse and redemption, And The Birds Kept On Singing tells two stories, both about the same boy. In one Sinéad keeps her son and returns home to her parents, to nineteen-eighties Ireland and life as a single mother. In the other she gives him away, to the Philliskirks, Malcolm and Margaret, knowing that they can give him the kind of life she never could.  As her son progresses through childhood and becomes a young man, Sinéad is forced to face the consequences of her decision. Did she do the right thing? Should she have kept him, or given him away? And will she spend the rest of her life regretting the choices she has made?

Format: ebook (642 pp.), paperback (596 pp.)       Published: 26th January 2017
Genre: Literary Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find And The Birds Kept On Singing on Goodreads

My Review

The author has created a powerful coming-of-age saga following the same boy through two different possible lives. In one, his teenage mother, Sinead, returns to Northern Ireland with her young son, Seán, to live back in the family home.   In the other, she gives him up for adoption and Jonathan becomes the longed-for child of Margaret and Malcolm, unable to have children of their own.  As the two different journeys play out, the author explores the various factors that may determine a person’s life chances: domestic environment, financial situation, educational opportunities, moral codes and so on.

The balance of the book is definitely towards the depiction of Seán’s life. As well as taking up the larger part of the book, his is the voice that feels really distinctive and authentic and his is the story that will certainly stay with this reader longest.  Childhood incidents, family upheaval, schoolboy friendships and sexual awakening are played out against a background of realistic domestic detail: family meals (who remembers crispy pancakes?), music, hanging out with your mates, watching football on the TV.

I felt I didn’t get inside Jonathan’s head in the quite the same way as I did Seán’s, possibly because Jonathan’s story is as much about his family as about him. His story is of a life not without challenges and obstacles but it is much less raw and dark than Seán’s story.

Despite their different upbringings – in different countries, with different accents and different family dynamics – the author manages to convey a sense that this is in essence the same boy in both strands of the story. Whether it’s as Seán or Jonathan, the boy demonstrates the same sense of humour, raw intelligence, ability to analyse situations and determination to overcome obstacles.

This book is not an easy read. (Readers should be aware that the book contains swearing and explicit descriptions of sex and of drug use.) At times, I found it uncomfortable reading. It is also quite bleak and very sad at some points. However, it is also powerful, moving and has an amazing sense of realism.

You can read my interview with Simon about his book and his writing journey here.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Gritty, realistic, powerful

SimonBourkeAbout the Author

Having spent the majority of his teens and twenties wondering just what would become of him, Simon chanced upon a hitherto unrealised ability to write. His dreams of super-stardom were almost immediately curtailed by a punishing, unexplained illness which took away three years of his life. He has since returned to his studies and couples them with a weekly column for local paper, the Limerick Post. If you were to ask him to tell you which career he’d prefer; journalist or novelist, he would smirk to himself and say that it’s impossible to make it as a novelist these days. He would then smirk some more and say that journalism is a dying industry.

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Book Review: The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting

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TheSixteenTreesoftheSommeCoverAbout the Book

Edvard grows up on a remote mountain farmstead in Norway with his taciturn grandfather, Sverre. The death of his parents, when he was three years old, has always been shrouded in mystery – he has never been told how or where it took place and has only a distant memory of his mother.  But he knows that the fate of his grandfather’s brother, Einar, is somehow bound up with this mystery. One day a coffin is delivered for his grandfather long before his death – a meticulous, beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Perhaps Einar is not dead after all. Edvard’s desperate quest to unlock the family’s tragic secrets takes him on a long journey – from Norway to the Shetlands, and to the battlefields of France – to the discovery of a very unusual inheritance. The Sixteen Trees of the Somme is about the love of wood and finding your own self, a beautifully intricate and moving tale that spans an entire century. (Translated from the Norwegian by Paul Russell Garrett.)

Format: ebook Publisher: MacLehose Press Pages: 480
Publication: 10th Aug 2017 Genre: Literary Fiction    

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Waterstones UK
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Sixteen Trees of the Somme on Goodreads

My Review

The death of Edvard’s grandfather, Bestefar, and the facts that come to light as a result, change everything for Edvard. They see him embark on a journey that will take him away from the isolated Nowegian farm where he has grown up to the Shetlands and France as he searches for the truth about the cause of his parents’ death and the four days afterwards when he was missing. It also stirs up vague fragments of memories – a scent, the sound of a voice, the texture of a fabric, a discarded toy – that don’t make any sense but convince Edvard that he needs to find out more about his parents’ death.

‘Because there was something about Mamma and Pappa’s story that was stirring, quietly, like a viper in the grass.’

As is often the case when unearthing secrets from the past, Edvard is forced to confront unwelcome possibilities and make agonising choices. Edvard’s search reaches back in time to WW1 and WW2, bringing to light painful facts from the past – death, injury, separation and betrayal – but also revealing stories of courage, determination and devotion.  It provokes questions such as whether it is better sometimes not to know the truth, to be careful what you wish for, that actions have consequences even if unintended, and the fulfilment you seek may be closer to home than you think.

I found the story absolutely enthralling and I loved the fantastic sense of place created in each location. From the author’s beautiful, heartfelt descriptions, I felt as if I could look out my own window and see the farm in Norway laid out before me.

‘Redcurrant bushes dense with berries, the flag-stoned path leading to the swimming hole at the river, the creek which cut through the potato fields and disappeared from sight behind the barn. The fruit trees, the pea pods that dangled like half moons when we got close to them, so plentiful that we could fill up on them without taking a step. The dark-blue fruit of the plum trees, the sagging raspberry bushes just waiting for us to quickly fill two small plates and fetch some caster sugar and cream.’

In particular, I loved the way the author captured the remote beauty of the Shetlands and the sense of a community where everyone knows what goes on, who’s arrived on the ferry, whose car has just passed them on the road. The author roots the various parts of the story each in their distinct time, in particular, using popular music as the background to Edvard’s journey. (I get the impression the author is a bit of a music fan, perhaps attracted at some point in his life to a girl by the way she browses in a record shop.)

At times, Edvard feels as if he has come to a dead-end in his search but still he continues searching for clues, motivated by curiosity but also by a sense of obligation to the dead – those known to him and those victims of two world wars unknown to him: ‘I wanted to be someone the dead could rely on.’

As the author of the left-field hit, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way (now also an activity book), it’s no surprise that wood is at the heart of the story. It is part of the plot in a number of ways – in fact, more and more ways as the story progresses – but it is also celebrated in the book for its form, history and beauty. Similarly, there is real regard for the craftsmanship that can fashion a piece of wood into an object of beauty, utility or religious symbolism.

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme has a compelling, enthralling story line with wonderfully atmospheric settings and well-developed characters. I was completely immersed in Edvard’s search for the truth about his parents’ death; like him, all the time fearing the dark secrets he might uncover but compelled to find out nonetheless.   A fantastic book, highly recommended.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers Quercus Books/MacLehose Press in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Enthralling, dramatic, compelling

Try something similar…The Signal Flame by Andrew Krivak (click here to read my review)

LarsMyttingAbout the Author

Lars Mytting, a novelist and journalist, was born in Fåvang, Norway, in 1968. His novel The Sixteen Trees of the Somme was awarded the Norwegian National Booksellers’ Award and has been bought for film. Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way has become an international bestseller and was the Bookseller Industry Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2016.

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