Published 22nd June 2023 by Headline Review.
From the cover of the book:
Dear Reader, the man I love is trying to kill me...1932. Emily Blackwood, a young adventuress and plant hunter, travels north for a curious new commission. A gentleman has written to request she catalogue his vast collection of taxidermied creatures before sale.
On arrival, Emily finds a ruined castle, its owner haunted by the memory of a woman who disappeared five decades before. And when she discovers the ripped pages of an old diary, crammed into the walls, she realises a dark secret lies here, waiting to entrap her too...
On arrival, Emily finds a ruined castle, its owner haunted by the memory of a woman who disappeared five decades before. And when she discovers the ripped pages of an old diary, crammed into the walls, she realises a dark secret lies here, waiting to entrap her too...
***********
1932: Plant hunter Emily Blackwood is used to exploring exotic locations across the globe, but the recent financial crash has her accepting a very different kind of commission in a remote Scottish castle. Reclusive Henry Vogel, once a collector for a celebrated animal emporium in New York, requires her help to catalogue his taxidermy specimens for sale, and Emmy needs the money - even if the conditions of employment are rather odd.
It is not long before Emmy discovers that she has been brought to the forbidding Castle Pàrras under false pretenses, and Mr Vogel actually needs her skills as an accomplished hunter to help him with an unusual quest. As Emmy makes herself familiar with the nooks and crannies of this ruined castle, she comes across an antique book called The Birdcage Library and the ripped pages of a journal belonging to Hester Vogel, the sister in law of Henry, who apparently committed suicide by throwing herself off the newly completed Brooklyn Bridge fifty years ago.
Emmy follows the trail of clues left behind by Hester's testimony, using The Birdcage Library as her guide, and she begins to uncover the dark secrets of the history of the Vogel family. Things as Castle Pàrras are not quite what they appear to be... but then, neither is she...
Having adored Freya Berry's stunning debut, The Dictator's Wife, I was chomping at the bit to find out what lay in store for me in this follow-up novel The Birdcage Library! At first sight, this is a very different sort of novel, but beneath the surface it explores many of the same concepts as in Berry's debut, and it is every bit as compelling.
Here Berry spins her magic in a dark story of family secrets and lies, following two timelines that echo many of the same themes - one in 1932 through the eyes of Emmy Blackwood, in a creepy castle in the Scottish wilds; and the other fifty years before, following the seemingly tragic story of Hester Vogel through the pages of her journal. I do not want to give away too much of the story, as it would spoil the beautifully crafted twists and turns that lie in wait in this novel, but I can tell you that far from the mundane task Emmy Blackwood envisages undertaking for the eccentric Mr Vogel, this actually turns out to be something of a complex treasure hunt - although the prize turns out to not entirely be the one you are expecting.
With lashings of Indiana Jones/National Treasure vibes, Emmy is the adventurer in this story, and her sharp mind and intelligence make her just the right person to solve the cryptic clues Hester has left behind. As she does so she reveals the truth about the secrets she is also keeping. In parallel, through Hester's story, you are drawn back to the world of Gilded Age New York, with storylines around the compulsion of the rich to collect exotic menageries, and the eerie fascination with the entertainments provided by the likes of circus impresario P.T. Barnum.
It did take me a little while to get into the rhythm of this story, but once the treasure hunt element emerges, and with it the voice of Hester, I was completely hooked. I love the way Berry layers theme upon sinister theme, bringing in dark influences appropriate to Emmy and Hester's time periods. This works particularly well in the way Berry reflects the ideas and fashions of the Gilded Age with the later Golden Age, especially using crime fiction to set the perfect tone for each time and place. Running through the whole piece, themes of obsession, deceit, illusion and power dominate, chiefly when it comes to women's freedom; and the notion of cages (however luxurious) ties everything together - whether they be imposed upon us, or of our own making. If this was not enough, Berry even touches on more modern ideas of conservation of exotic species too!
This book utterly consumed me, tying me completely to the fates of Emmy and Hester and sweeping me away on the kind of tide that only the very best of writers can conjure. I adored it, and am intrigued by the direction that Berry's imagination may take her next - wherever it is likely to be, I am guaranteed to be along for the ride.
The Birdcage Library is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Headline for sending me a prook of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Her second novel, The Birdcage Library, is published June 22nd: think books within books and a literary treasure hunt packed with twists. A 1930s adventuress discovers an old book containing clues about the disappearance of a woman who vanished 50 years before. Set between a Scottish castle in the 1930s and an exotic animal emporium in Gilded Age New York, it's a gothic tale of secrets, obsession and murder. Oh, and taxidermy.
Her first novel The Dictator's Wife, a high-stakes exploration of power, glamour and complicity, was published in 2022. It was shortlisted for the Authors' Club First Novel Award, a pick for the BBC's flagship book show Between The Covers, and The New European's novel of the year.
Freya lives in London and graduated with a double first in English from Cambridge. She spends more time reading smutty fantasy novels than she likes to admit.
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