All the Birds, Singing
1st Edition
Published on 20. June 2013
240 pages
978-1-4481-1448-1 (ISBN)
Description
'A thoughtful and intense account of a young woman seemingly determined to disappear from the world's radar...' Observer
Jake Whyte is the sole resident of an old farmhouse on an unnamed British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. It's just her, her untamed companion, Dog, and a flock of sheep. Which is how she wanted it to be. But something is coming for the sheep - every few nights it picks one off, leaves it in rags.
It could be anything. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumours of an obscure, formidable beast. And there is Jake's unknown past, perhaps breaking into the present, a story hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, in a landscape of different colour and sound, a story held in the scars that stripe her back.
'Unsettling, dark and extraordinarily fresh' The Times
'A hair-prickling thriller... It's the quality of [Wyld's] prose that really blows your mind' Metro
**Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Prize**
**Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction**
Jake Whyte is the sole resident of an old farmhouse on an unnamed British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. It's just her, her untamed companion, Dog, and a flock of sheep. Which is how she wanted it to be. But something is coming for the sheep - every few nights it picks one off, leaves it in rags.
It could be anything. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumours of an obscure, formidable beast. And there is Jake's unknown past, perhaps breaking into the present, a story hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, in a landscape of different colour and sound, a story held in the scars that stripe her back.
'Unsettling, dark and extraordinarily fresh' The Times
'A hair-prickling thriller... It's the quality of [Wyld's] prose that really blows your mind' Metro
**Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Prize**
**Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction**
Reviews / Votes
Unsettling, dark and extraordinarily fresh. It feels eccentrically, wonderfully British... An inimitable, original new voice. Can't wait to read more. * The Times * Wyld is a writer who reconfigures the conventions of storytelling with a sure-footedness and ambition which belie her age... What makes the book so outstanding is the beauty and simplicity of the writing. * Spectator * One feels the influence of an early Ian McEwan or Iain Banks... But All the Birds, Singing, is also powerfully original, strongest in its handling of the human and animal worlds, and the thin line between the two. * Times Literary Supplement * All The Birds, Singing is extraordinarily accomplished, one of those books that tears around in your cerebellum like a dark firework, and which, upon finishing, you immediately want to pick up again * Financial Times * The closest cousin to All the Birds, Singing is Iain Banks' masterly first novel, The Wasp Factory... Evie Wyld's two books are quite as good as Ian McEwan's early fiction. Expect to hear her name often from now on. * Spectator * Her writing is precise, intense, haunting and poetic... A nuanced exploration of human suffering and resilience. Wyld's writing seems to come from somewhere deep; somewhere a little big unnerving and odd. For once, the hype matches the talent. * Sunday Times * Evie Wyld's All the Birds, Singing is an astonishing novel ... The story is compelling, the structure ambitious and the imagery vivid. This is one talented young writer. * Scotsman * Oozes, drips and throbs with menace... A thoughtful and intense account of a young woman seemingly determined to disappear from the world's radar... All the Birds, Singing should enhance [Wyld's] reputation as one of our most gifted novelists. * Observer * A hair-prickling thriller... It's the quality of [Wyld's] prose that really blows your mind. * Metro * Unsettling, beautiful, horrifying and moving in equal parts, I haven't read anything quite like All the Birds, Singing for a long time... An extraordinary book. * Stylist *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
File size
2,29 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4481-1448-1 (9781448114481)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Evie Wyld is the award-winning author of four novels and one graphic novel. She has won the Betty Trask Award, Miles Franklin Award, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Encore Award, Jerwood Fiction Prize and the European Union Prize. In 2013 she was included in Granta's once-a-decade list of Best of Young British Novelists. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and helps run an independent bookshop in Peckham called Review.
