Title: The Warbler
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
BLURB
Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.
But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts where mysterious forces make it impossible for the residents to leave, she hopes she can change her fate.
As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want. Now she believes she’s stuck, too—is that a patch of bark on her arm? But her neighbor’s collection of pet birds sings secrets that Elisa can almost understand—secrets she must unravel in order to be truly alive.
‘My mother is a willow. She stands by a stream that burbles like a toddler’s kisses, and her leaves dip into the water whenever the wind blows, to be nibbled by fish who don’t know any better.’
What an opening paragraph!
Oh this book was stunning, beautiful and so imaginative!
If you like small towns, curses, a bookshop cat and going back in time to meet members of a family then this is the book for you.
I know I’ll be thinking about this book for ages!
Sound like something you’d like?
