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    Birdcage Walk
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    Birdcage Walk
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    Birdcage Walk
    Ebook366 pages8 hours

    Birdcage Walk

    By Helen Dunmore

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol’s housing boom, and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war. Soon his plans for a magnificent terrace built above the two-hundred-foot drop of the Gorge come under threat. Tormented and striving Diner believes that Lizzie’s independent, questioning spirit must be coerced and subdued. She belongs to him: law and custom confirm it, and she must live as he wants—his passion for Lizzie darkening until she finds herself dangerously alone.

    Weaving a deeply personal and moving story with a historical moment of critical and complex importance, Birdcage Walk is an unsettling and brilliantly tense drama of public and private violence, resistance and terror from one of our greatest storytellers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Monthly Press
    Release dateAug 1, 2017
    ISBN9780802189226
    Unavailable
    Birdcage Walk
    Author

    Helen Dunmore

    Helen Dunmore was an award-winning novelist, poet and children's writer, who will be remembered for the wisdom, lyricism, compassion and immersive beauty of her writing. In her lifetime, she published eight collections of poetry, many novels for both adults and children, and two collections of short stories. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel A Spell of Winter, and her novel The Siege was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction.

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    Reviews for Birdcage Walk

    3.5/5

    53 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      ‘’Who would look at this place and desire it?’’

      ‘’The Siege’’ by Helen Dunmore was one of the very first books I read in English, when I was 18. Since then, she has become one of the authors whose work I closely follow. Her stories are raw, with a distinctive kind of beauty, sometimes full of a kind of discomforting honesty as in the case of ‘’Talking to the Dead’’. In ‘’Birdcage Walk’’, she provides one more excellent example of Historical Fiction.

      The original Birdcage Walk is a famous street in Westminster, in London, but here, Dunmore transfers it to Bristol. We find ourselves in 1792, in an era of violence, of political and social turmoil caused by the aftermath of the French Revolution. Our main character is a young woman named Lizzie Fawkes who was born to a mother of radical intellectual beliefs. This creates significant problems to her marriage with John Diner Tredevant whose conservative convictions and worries about the major difficulties caused in his job by the turbulent times, along with a dark secret of his past compose a suffocating environment for Lizzie.

      I’ve always found the era of the French Revolution magnetizing and I haven't had the chance to read a great number of novels dealing with its impact on other European countries. In ‘’Birdcage Walk’’, the consequences of the Revolution and the beginning of the Reign of Terror blend in the narration in a coherent, beautiful way. We witness the spreading of the news in England, and the fear caused by the upheaval in the sovereign monarchy of the Albion. Not to mention, the dread of a possible war between the two countries. I was pleasantly surprised to see the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat and the trial of Charlotte Corday being included in the story,an event that continues to fascinate and attract much speculation

      So,when you’re dealing with such an important, rich historical period, there's always the risk that your plot and characters may be overshadowed. This isn't the case here. Without presenting a large cast of characters, Dunmore creates realistically problematic protagonists, people that you can love, hate and connect to.

      ‘’You speak too freely.’’

      The focus is on Lizzie. She is clever, innocent, but fully aware of her surroundings and the traps that lay before her. She is a very earthly, very realistic character. A woman who tries to balance her love for her family and her feelings for her husband. Diner is, to put it simply, a despicable character.I may sound too harsh or dogmatic, but I hated him from the very first moment and my hatred grew with each page. He is cruel, cold, heartless. He wants to control Lizzie to the fullest. What she eats, whom she sees,where she goes, when she smiles, why she smiles, everything. He is a toxic, suffocating individual. It seemed to me that between him and Lizzie there was only a physical, sexual connection, dark and unhealthy. This is a man who’s incapable of love of any kind.

      The secondary characters are very well-drawn and very interesting.Julia, Lizzie’s mother, a woman who follows her convictions to the end, Hannah, the nurse, the rock of the household, Augustus, Lizzie’s stepfather, sensitive and with his head in the clouds, Phillo,the stern but faithful young maid, and Will, a young, radical poet, a dreamer. However, the character that casts a long,dark shadow in the plot, is Lucie, Diner’s first wife and the spectre that haunts Lizzie’s mind and marriage.

      This brings me to the structure and the themes of the novel.There is the Prelude that I found so engaging.The story starts at a graveyard, following a middle-aged man and a striking discovery by his dog,The powerful presence of Death remains tangible during the first stages of the book, and the reader already begins to wonder. Does Dunmore give certain things away too early? Yes, she does and this adds to that gloomy, foreboding feeling of impending danger that shimmers constantly as the chapters fly. There is a distinctive echo of Du Maurier's ‘’Rebecca’’, the similarities are unmistakable as the first wife's shadow falls on Lizzie, the gloomy,haunting landscape that surrounds her, the dilapidated estate begging for an owner that slowly becomes a prison...

      Those who are already fans of Dunmore's writing are certain to enjoy ‘’Birdcage Walk’’. The ones who wish to familiarize themselves with her work will find a perfect introduction in this novel, and a powerful example of well-written Historical Fiction.

      Many thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      Helen Dunmore was a wonderful writer & so sad that this was her last book. A captivating story narrated by Lizzie Fawkes, who's married to Diner, a builder in Bristol during the period of the French Revolution. As events unfold, the story becomes darker & creepier as Diners past catches up with him. Gripping stuff with tremendous sense of place & time.
    • 3/5
      I liked elements of this novel, which captures the uncertainty and utter strangeness of the early 1790s ... but by and large it didn't hold my interest, I'm sorry to say.
    • 3/5
      This story, set in 1792 Bristol England, was my first introduction to the poetic and illustrative writing of Helen Dunmore and sadly, this book was to be her last. It opens with a superfluous "Prelude" set in current day Bristol in an attempt to set the scene. It is followed by a disturbing covert unmarked burial of a woman. Such an act provides such tension that the reader is forever wondering when the other shoe will drop. Lizzie, the heroin of this story, has recently married a widower who is controlling and rather needy. He is a builder of grand homes and holds grand dreams of his own extraordinary success. She, the only child of a woman widowed very early on, had always found her strength through her mother's forward vision, drive for equality and mastery of language through writing. Lizzie is adrift with the passing of her mother resulting in the faltering of her own centering and compass. Meanwhile, the French Revolution is raging on. The Terror is causing many to flee to other shores. The English are on tenterhooks and hoping that war does not reach its own shores. The crumbling civil society of France is a metaphor for the condition of Lizzie's marriage and the building project.Much of the story is told from within Lizzie's mind which at times plays tricks on her and festers doubt within her. At the moment she believes to have clarity, the pace of story picks up quickly and propels forward. However, in this reader's opinion, the climax is not worthy of the build up to it. It's all rather understated.I am grateful to publisher Grove Atlantic and Goodreads First Reads for having provided a free copy of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.Synopsis (from book's dust jeacket):It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol’s housing boom, and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war. Soon his plans for a magnificent terrace built above the two-hundred-foot drop of the Gorge come under threat. Tormented and striving Diner believes that Lizzie’s independent, questioning spirit must be coerced and subdued. She belongs to him: law and custom confirm it, and she must live as he wants—his passion for Lizzie darkening until she finds herself dangerously alone.Weaving a deeply personal and moving story with a historical moment of critical and complex importance,Birdcage Walk is an unsettling and brilliantly tense drama of public and private violence, resistance and terror from one of our greatest storytellers.
    • 3/5
      Off to an interesting start but half way through I felt like I got if and diidn’t care to finish it. I am hard tonplease these day I admit.
    • 4/5
      Whether it’s the Nazi’s devastating winter siege of Leningrad in 1941 (The Siege), spies and Cold War drama in 1960s London (Exposure), or the effects of the French Revolution on the people of England in 1792, Helen Dunmore’s historical fiction enlightens and captivates. In her latest and sadly, last novel, Birdcage Walk, Ms. Dunmore chose the period of the French Revolution as her timeframe. John Diner Tredevant is a builder and land speculator. He has borrowed money to build a terrace of houses overlooking The Gorge at a most unpropitious time. His wife Lizzie is the daughter of idealists whose support of the French Revolution puts them in constant danger. As Diner’s business continues to fail and his debtors close in, his moods become more erratic and he questions Lizzie’s independence. His past begins to intrude on their present and as she finds out more, Lizzie begins to fear for more than their ability to withstand these financial blows to their future. Birdcage Walk is a dark and brooding book, most likely drawing its nature from the excellently drawn character of Diner. I had less feeling for Lizzie, whose innocence and immaturity I found grating at times. The conversations that take place at her stepfather’s house give good context to the current events of the period. Helen Dunmore provides an informative Afterword that explains her motivation behind this work, and an insight into The Siege and Exposure as well. When you read one of her historical novels, you come away with far more than a story. You’ve been given a segment of history.
    • 3/5
      It's 1789, and all of Europe seems caught up in revolutionary fever. Lizzie's mother, Julia Fawkes, is a well-know activist writer who raised her daughter alone after her young husband's death. Now Lizzy has married John Diner Tradevant, an ambitious builder. Diner (as he prefers to be called) is an overbearing, obsessive husband, jealous of Lizzie's visitors, her own visits to the home of her pregnant mother and her new husband, and even her infrequent ventures into town. (Not exactly a subtle tip-off to where this plot is going.) He wants no children because, he tells her, he doesn't want to share her with anyone else. Diner also has little to say about his first wife, Lucie, except that she died in France. Fears of a war with France have put would-be buyers on edge, and Diner's business is going broke. When Lizzie takes in her newborn stepbrother, things go from bad to worse. I was quite disappointed in this novel, only the second of Dunmore's that I have read. The story was so transparent that I couldn't wait for it to end. What saved this book from a lower rating was Dunmore's very fine writing and the way she creates a particular atmosphere and an underlying commentary on the persistent influence of mothers upon their daughters.