Other Birds Published by St. Martin's Press by Sarah Addison Allen
on August 30, 2022
Genres: Adult, American South, Contemporary, Fantasy, Ghosts, Magical Realism, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 304
Source: Netgalley
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram
Also by this author: Garden Spells (Waverley Family, #1), First Frost (Waverley Family, #2)
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
ISBN: 1250019869
Rating:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells comes an enchanting tale filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go.
Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.
Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.
When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment on an island outside of Charleston she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a girl on the run, two estranged middle-aged sisters, a lonely chef, a legendary writer, and three ghosts. Each with their own story. Each with their own longings. Each whose ending isn’t yet written.
Sarah Addison Allen is one of those authors that is an instantaneous, no-questions, I don’t even read the synopsis, I’m going to read her books.
The way she blends magical realism with real-life emotions and scenarios is nothing short of brilliant. She uses the magical elements to bring about situations and responses in her characters that are beautiful, poignant, and–at times–devastating.
I don’t think I’ve read a book by her that hasn’t left me with quite the book hangover. And, of course, Other Birds is absolutely no exception.
A story of a group of people who all have, not much more than, their residence in common. They all live at the whimsical Dellawisp–a condo on the lovely Mallow Island.
Even though they have nothing in common, many of them build a bond based upon loneliness, kindness, and heartache of all different kinds.
The wonder of this book is wrapped up in the secrets, the beautiful island, and, of course, the crazy group of Dellawisps that live at the condo.
Addison is forever going to be a go-to author. One who manages to always evoke emotional responses–both sadness and joy–through her words.
About Sarah Addison Allen
Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allen grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). In college, she majored in literature -- because, as she puts it, "I thought it was amazing that I could get a diploma just for reading fiction. It was like being able to major in eating chocolate."
After graduation, Allen began writing seriously. Her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells, a modern-day fairy tale about an enchanted apple tree and the family of North Carolina women who tend it. Booklist called Allen's accomplished debut "spellbindingly charming." The novel became a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and then a New York Times Bestseller.
Allen continues to serve heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as "Southern-fried magic realism." Clearly, it's a recipe readers are happy to eat up as fast as she can dish it out.
I have an arc of this book that I keep meaning to read, I can’t believe it releases next week! I’m so glad to hear you loved it, I’ve never read anything by her before but I hope I love this one!
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