About the Book
From one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists comes a stunningly insightful, emotionally powerful novel about an outsider haunted by an inescapable past: a story of loneliness and survival, guilt and loss, and the power of forgiveness.
Jake Whyte is living on her own in an old farmhouse on a craggy British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. Her disobedient collie, Dog, and a flock of sheep are her sole companions, which is how she wanted it to be. But every few nights something--or someone--picks off one of the sheep and sounds a new deep pulse of terror. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumors of an obscure, formidable beast. And there is also Jake's past--hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, held in the silences about her family and the scars that stripe her back--a past that threatens to break into the present. With exceptional artistry and empathy, All the Birds, Singing reveals an isolated life in all its struggles and stubborn hopes, unexpected beauty, and hard-won redemption.
About the Author :
Evie Wyld grew up in Australia and London, where she currently resides. She received an MA in creative and life writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the recipient of the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and a Betty Trask Award.
Cat Gould grew up in Sydney, Australia, and after extensive travel moved to the United States in 1990. A classically trained actress with a BFA from Southern Oregon University, she has performed in many regional productions.
Review :
A suspenseful and melancholy novel...There are also surprising moments of lightness--the protagonist's dark humor, the author's unsentimental reverence for the natural world.
-- "New Yorker"
Broodingly lyrical...Casts a spellbinding breadcrumb trail back in time to reveal the origins of Jake's banishment--and the darker mysteries of human nature.
-- "Vogue"
Don't overlook Evie Wyld's read-in-one-sitting All the Birds, Singing, which suspensefully teases out the past crimes and present dangers imperiling a woman on the run. Pass along after reading--some secrets are too good not to share.
-- "W magazine"
Evie Wyld takes a major leap forward with this second book...A hair-prickling thriller...Jake is a fascinating narrator. Wyld is particularly good at evoking the texture of life on the margins, of communities and people living on the periphery. But it's the quality of her prose that really blows your mind--lyrical without being cloying, full of violence and beauty, and, when it needs to be, as spare as the unforgiving landscape of Jake's adopted island.
-- "Metro"
Gorgeous...The book is remarkable not only for the nearly unbearable sense of suspense but also for the lushness of the animal world.
-- "NPR ("Best Book Coming Out This Week")"
Purely gorgeous...Writing with assurance and just enough embedded clues to help us understand what she is doing, Wyld ramps up the tension...In the end, the hardness at Jake's core and the stubborn isolation she has chosen are undercut by unexpected, softly radiant developments. There's love as well as dread in this book, a surprising sort of love--the best kind of all.
-- "Washington Post"
A dark, powerfully disturbing, and beautifully observed story about a haunting, both physical and temporal.
-- "William Boyd, New York Times bestselling author"
Absolutely gorgeous...Wyld's heroine, Jake, is like Hemingway's Nick Adams in toughness and silence, but she has a far more terrifying history, and her story now is edged by greater threat. You won't be able to stop reading.
-- "David Vann, author of Legend of a Suicide"
At once energetic and dark...Vividly drawn...When the birds do 'sing, ' and Jake's primal tragedy is revealed, it is clever and very unexpected indeed.
-- "Guardian (London)"
Completely and utterly monumental.
-- "BBC Radio 4's Saturday Review "
Daring and fierce, this is a book that makes you feel the need to look over your shoulder in case something dark and hulking might be gaining on you...From the very first sentence of Wyld's brilliantly unsettling novel, you're thrust into a world of violence, dread, and psychological mystery...Where Wyld truly shines is in the writing, flooding every page with menace...Her language is as rattling as it is precise.
-- "Boston Globe"
Dark and wickedly captivating...It's nearly impossible not to get swept up in the game of merging the two stories by piecing together each clue Wyld keeps stashed away to reveal at the most opportune moment...A gripping novel.
-- "San Francisco Chronicle"
Evie Wyld's novels ask tough questions without seeking easy answers...Wyld excels in the intimate details that make up the relationship between humans and animals...Best of all are Jake's interactions with dogs in the novel...Despite Jake's gruff exterior, this is not a book about loneliness or even isolation. There are moments of connection and human kindness...Wyld once again creates a complex character.
-- "BookPage"
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...For all its darknesses, All the Birds, Singing gleams with humor and kindness, moments of humanity that redeem almost everyone in the book.
-- "Financial Times"
For once, the hype matches the talent...Wyld's writing seems to come from somewhere deep, somewhere a little bit unnerving and odd. [It] is precise, intense, haunting, and poetic.
-- "Sunday Times (London)"
Gorgeously vivid...Ripe material for a Jane Campion movie or miniseries...Wyld is deserving of recognition.
-- "Harper's"
If the novel sounds forbiddingly dark, it's not. It's swift and assured and emotionally wrenching. You won't only root for Jake, you'll see the world, hard facts and all, more clearly through her telling. There's hope at the end, and wit, and friendship.
-- "New York Times Book Review"
Nominated for numerous awards for her debut, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, Wyld has now delivered an equally indelible and atmospheric second novel that will have the hairs on the back of your neck working overtime...An intensely involving tale of survival, shot through with Wyld's distinctive wit.
-- "Daily Mail (London)"
Powerfully original.
-- "Times Literary Supplement"
Riveting...Jake is both haunted by the past and struggling with the present, and the intensity of Wyld's sharp novel grows as the two threaten to collide.
-- "Booklist"
Searing...Wyld's writing is as muscular as Jake.
-- "Publishers Weekly"
Some novels are crafted with such care that it seems a shame reviewers should get to paw them before readers have the chance to admire their intricacy...Wyld keeps us guessing for the length of this ingeniously constructed narrative.
-- "Literary Review"
Tantalizes...The prose maintains a fine-tuned ominous mood...The most impressive aspect of the novel is its structure.
-- "New York Times"
Unsettling, beautiful, horrifying, and moving in equal parts...In the flawed but vulnerable character of Jake, [Wyld has] created someone you can't help but care for, root for, and desperately want the best for...There is no disputing the power of the story and the beauty of Wyld's writing. It's an extraordinary book.
-- "Stylist"
Wyld has masterfully created a novel with an unusual structure that nevertheless feels natural, a dark, eerie undertone that delivers gripping suspense, and subject matter that can get grim and even hard to read yet never makes the story feel depressing...The intermingling of past and present story lines takes some acclimation, but trust Wyld, she will quickly draw you in; a true pleasure to read.
-- "Library Journal (starred review)"
Wyld 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...Second novels are notoriously difficult to pull off, especially when the first received prizes, but this one is terrific. Wyld's two books are quite as good as Ian McEwan's early fiction. Expect to hear her name often from now on...Evie Wyld is the real thing.
-- "Spectator (UK) "
Wyld teasingly leads readers to the mysterious incident Jake is trying to escape...[The novel has] an atmosphere pungent with menace and panicked uncertainty...Wyld keeps her readers in a blinkered state and then spooks them.
-- "Wall Street Journal"
Wyld [has] considerable skill with plot...Tim Winton is a writer with whom the fearless Wyld deserves serious comparison.
-- "Daily Telegraph (London)"
