Birdeye

What I loved about this book was the element of found family, I’ve always enjoyed books which deal with this and Birdeye was a perfect example. Each of the characters were fully fleshed out and believable and I had a real affection and connection with Liv. Judith Heneghan writes with such precision and I was fully sucked into the narrative and the psychological aspects of a world that was once steady and solid becoming precarious and rocky. This was one of my standout reads of the year so far and I’d urge you all to read it.

* Bookishchat *

Heneghan’s way with character and setting is nigh-on perfection. With the lightest of brushstrokes, Heneghan creates something that feels real, authentic in a way that many authors strive for but many fall short of. Liv is real, I’m sure of it. There’s a truthfulness to the depiction that goes beyond whether or not an actual person called Olivia exists and said or did any of these things. Her heartbreak, her anger, her love, her tiredness all ring unmistakably true.

-- James Kinsley

★★★★★ You'll most likely be drawn to the cover of this novel, which is a work of art in itself, but this is, first and foremost, a beautifully written novel with, often, a hypnotic narrative style. The characters are well-drawn, and the setting is beautifully rendered. What a treat to read another Judith Heneghan novel. Highly recommended.

-- Kerry Hadley-Pryce * NetGalley *

★★★★★ I found this to be one of those quietly powerful books! It grabs you with the characters and the setting, and gets under your skin as you follow their story showing their strengths and vunerabilities and beautifully captures what it is to be human. A really absorbing read and one I’d highly recommend!!

* Books and Me *

Birdeye is about mistakes and redemption; shifting norms and values; the weight of history; the elusiveness of liberation; and what it really means to love. Like Judith Heneghan’s other work, it is beautifully written. It portrays a universe of magical intensity. It wears its symbolism lightly, yet almost no sentence is superfluous, which is why it well repays re-reading. One small example: “If Liv was the roof and floor of the Birdeye House, and Rose, the air within it, then Sonny and Mishti were its four walls, holding everything together.”

-- Christina James, Crime Nove