A Little Bird Told Me by Marianne Holmes

☆☆☆☆
Kindle Edition, 277 pages
Published September 13th 2018 by Agora Books
About the Book:
In the scorching summer of 1976, Robyn spends her days swimming at the Lido and tagging after her brother. It’s the perfect holiday – except for the crying women her mum keeps bringing home. As the heatwave boils on, tensions in the town begin to simmer. Everyone is gossiping about her mum, a strange man is following her around, and worst of all, no one will tell Robyn the truth. But this town isn’t good at keeping secrets. Twelve years later Robyn returns home, to a house that has stood empty for years and a town that hasn’t moved on, forced to confront the mystery that haunted her that summer. And atone for the part she played in it.

Neil is shouting at us to wait for him, but we can’t because we are unstoppable and glorious and made of wind.

The novel takes place in 1976 and 1988. I particularly enjoyed the 1976 chapters, when Kit and Robyn were children. I was quite taken with the emotion I felt while reading this book, the author writes that well. Her characters are well defined, broken and tortured in many ways. Robyn's relationship with her mother and her brother and the way she comes to terms with her childhood is brilliant. This book was written with love and detail as to the situations at hand.

I found A Little Bird Told Me to be an enjoyable read. I was quickly swept up in the story through Holmes' writing style. Her imagery in particular was beautiful. But the actual story itself was an emotionally rough one and the author manages to avoid turning this tale into a soap opera, even though many plot points have the potential for overdramatization. Instead, she pens a nuanced account exploring the bonds of family, along with the long-term repercussions of secrets and lies.

Finally, an author that can write an adult book that follows all the twists and plots through to the end, in a story you can't just put down. She makes each character so believable you can feel their emotions while reading it. This is definitely one I will recommend to others.

Thank you NetGalley, Agora Books and Marianne Holmes for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#LittleBird #NetGalley