Vita And The Birds by Polly Crosby

 

Vita and the Birds by Polly Crosby.

Published 25th May 2023 by HQ Stories.

From the cover of the book:

1938: Lady Vita Goldsborough lives in the menacing shadow of her controlling older brother, Aubrey. But when she meets local artist Dodie Blakeney, the two women form a close bond, and Vita finally glimpses a chance to be free.

1997: Following the death of her mother, Eve Blakeney returns to the coast where she spent childhood summers with her beloved grandmother, Dodie. Eve hopes that the visit will help make sense of her grief. The last thing she expects to find is a bundle of letters that hint at the heart-breaking story of Dodie’s relationship with a woman named Vita, and a shattering secret that echoes through the decades.

What she discovers will overturn everything she thought she knew about her family – and change her life forever.

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1938: As the world holds its breath, with a careful eye on the storm clouds gathering over Europe, Lady Vita Goldsborough has her own battles to fight. Daring to defy her controlling older brother Aubrey, she meets and forms a close bond with local artist Dodie Blakeney - a woman who gives her the courage to think that she might finally escape his clutches.

1997: Eve Blakeney, reeling from the death of her mother, heads to an old cabin on the Suffolk coast. A place which holds warm memories of her artist grandmother Dodie, and of carefree summers with her bohemian mother and brothers, but somewhere she has not dared to think about in the same way since a fateful night in the mysterious, derelict glasshouse called The Cathedral of the Marshes. Eve has not returned here for years, and is plagued by half-remembered images of that haunt her dreams. She is unsure if she should even be here now, but perhaps it is the right time to clear the cabin, and her own head.

When Eve discovers a bundle of letters among the scattered belongings of her grandmother, she learns of the relationship between Vita and Dodie - and she uncovers a secret that will change everything she thought she knew about her own family.

Vita and the Birds is the third wonderful novel from Polly Crosby, and in it she once again blurs the lines between reality and the other-worldy, delving into the uneasy relationship between the land and the sea in the brooding salt marshes on the wild Suffolk coast.

Against the backdrop of mist and mystery, in a shifting sea of reeds that hide all manner of secrets amid their sinister suserrations, Crosby imagines a Gothic glass castle looming above the marshes and spins two interconnected timelines about it that hold you spellbound. The first, tells of the history of the heartbreaking story of Vita and Dodie, from vulnerable and damaged Vita's point of view, and is rife with themes of control and forbidden love. The second, follows Eve as she tries to come to terms with her grief and unresolved fears about The Cathedral of the Marshes in the present, while she sifts through the memory laden belongings of her grandmother. And I am not about to tell you too much about either of them, except to say that this story confirms Crosby as one of the finest writers I have had the pleasure to consume in recent years.

Crosby moves deftly between the past and the present, merging seamlessly between the two through the use of letters, personal belongings, and mirrored events, that gradually allow many long held secrets to be revealed in a way that drops the heart-wrenching reveals with perfect timing. She weaves storytelling magic throughout, making the best of setting, weather, and a community with long memories and a propensity for believing rumour to be truth, playing with themes of gilded cages, and yearning for freedom. The scenes where Crosby uses birds are particularly moving, and I could easily wax long, and lyrical, about how she wields light, perception, and half-remembered moments that nag at the subconscious. Superb!

For me, this is Crosby's best work yet, and that is saying a lot! While not being devoid of dark themes, stitched into the fabric of the story in the way that she does so darned well, especially when it comes to women, it thrums with emotion and love - and tugs at the senses in a sensuous and seductive way. It is also her most uplifting story to date, and I shed a bucket load of cathartic tears in the glorious final stretches of this novel. 

This is quite simply, beautiful. I adored it from start to finish, and am already craving more. Polly Crosby is one of my favourite writers for a reason, and if you have yet to discover her books then all I can say is that you are in for a treat!

Vita and the Birds is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to HQ Stories for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Polly Crosby grew up on the Suffolk coast, and now lives with her husband and son in the heart of Norfolk.

In 2018, Polly won Curtis Brown Creative’s Yesterday Scholarship, which enabled her to finish her debut novel, The Illustrated Child. Later the same year, it was awarded runner-up in the Bridport Prize’s Peggy Chapman Andrews Award for a First Novel. Polly received the Annabel Abbs Creative Writing Scholarship at the University of East Anglia.