Bird Cottage

Reviews / Votes

I tend my herd and flock by day so I have to read into the night; I cannot put it down * Rosamund Young, author of The Secret of Life of Cows * A convincing account of total dedication and self-belief, and there's beauty and joy in Len's strange life... entertaining and thought-provoking * Guardian * Truly original... There's a sense of birdlike lightness and agility about this episodic, elliptical novel * Daily Mail * The author's fluid, seemingly weightless prose is perfectly matched to the birds she describes... This beautiful creation will be a source of great pleasure for birders and readers alike * Country Life * A delightful, poignant tale * Saga Magazine * A celebration of a life spent immersed in nature * Town & Country * Fascinating and affecting, a portrait of a woman determined to follow her passion come what may * European Literature Network * Bewitching... will make you want to throw away your Oyster pass and move to a remote cottage... Read it to de-stress * The Lady * In this perfect match of writer and subject, Eva Meijer brilliantly evokes the precious, vibrant and complex society Len Howard shared with songbirds at her cottage in Sussex. This beautiful novel is haunted by loss -- of individual birds, as well as the spectre of species collapse, and the vanishing of entire life worlds * Sue Donaldson, author of Zoopolis * In the end all the puzzling, hard work of the translation process vanishes into the ether, and only the text remains: words that weave a story beyond both Dutch and English... I hope they will resonate just as much with their new readers as they did with their Dutch audience, and then with me * Asymptote Journal * You totally identify with Howard, making her passion your own. It isn't Howard who is eccentric, but people who live without birds * Tzum * Read this book to totally unwind. It will open your eyes and encourage you to go out and see the birds * De Wereld Draait Door * An eye-opening novel. What makes Bird Cottage so appealing is the quiet serenity that Eva Meijer displays * De Volkskrant * Mesmerising and moving * NRC Handelsblad * Both uplifting and deeply moving * Psychogeographic Review * I loved every word of this - I had great tits nesting in my garden last spring, and I think Len was right about every detail * East Sussex Living *