Welcome to Litsy!

I honestly don't know how Evie Wyld does it. She writes about messy, complicated women with such humanity. And she delves into the horrible ways people can mistreat eachother, especially men's violence towards women, without ever feeling exploitative. She turns the focus to women's resilience and rage, and crafts an engrossing narrative around it.
Note - there is no real ending here, which I LOVE but I know doesn't work for everyone!
cont'd

We read her more recent book for book club and I loved it so was happy to find this one in an op shop. I loved this too. She doesn‘t tie up endings but I sort of like that because I can make up my own. Always very happy.😊.
Having read two of her novels I hope her life hadn‘t been as traumatic as her characters. Strong women overcoming tremendous odds. Set in out back Australia and country Britain. A worthy winner.

Hardy, then experience, taught me that sheep can die so easily. We'll see if this book proves to be too much or just right...

I am torn about this book. At first, it was confusing due to the changes in timeline. Once I sorted that out, I was loving it. However, I love animals and there are a lot of horrific scenes. In the end, I was utterly disappointed. It seemed as though the author randomly stopped writing one day and called it done. The ending COMPLETELY left me hanging. I think it has the potential to be great...if the author ever decides to finish it. 🐑 #MountTBR

Book 5️⃣ of the #12booksof2020

An incredibly propulsive novel told in two separate timelines, one of which is related in reverse. I‘ll caution that the ending of one timeline is a bit unsatisfying. This is a story about a young woman named Jake who is running from something, all the way to a sheep farm on a remote island off the coast of Great Britain. When I finished it I immediately added Evie Wyld‘s other works to my tbr.

Found this at the Dollar Tree....love the cover, and the juxtaposition of the title - birds singing - and what looks to be a sheep about to be eaten...intriguing

Evie Wyld writes such complex books and characters. The structure of this works brilliantly to slowly reveal more about the MC Jake's life. The present narrative moves forwards on a remote British island where something is killing her sheep while the past takes us to her Australian roots and works backwards towards the event that started her journey

My third and final book for #bookspin completed. #TripleSpin
@TheAromaofBooks

I enjoyed the writing and the way story was set up. Not my usual read but still it was enjoyable. The way story went back and forth between past and present esp how the past was told in reverse was done well. Only major problem for me was the second last chapter. I like open endings but this one dissappointed me (details in comments as it contains spoilers).

Getting started on my #TripleSpin!!

All the birds singing (#Music to my ears 😉) has been on my TBR for a while. Hoping to get to it by the end of the year....along with all the other ones I‘ve convinced myself I‘ll get to! #movember

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 2

@MeganAnn would you like to have a go at posting a favourite cover a day for 7 days?

I wish there was a not sure rating 🤷‍♀️ I suppose that‘s a so-so. I didn‘t hate it, I‘m slightly confused and very sad about it, I think!
I know I didn‘t like the ending though.

@emilyhaldi Your package arrived! Thanks so much for the two books!! I'm excited to read them. They are both right up my alley.
This is a crap photo, sorry but couldn't resist the 🐈 photobomb. He, of course, had to inspect the new merchandise. 🙂
#littensarethebest

Thank you Rachel and Vikki for the book and gifts 🎁 Merry Christmas to you both 🎅have a lovely time.

I was going to take a picture of the #birdofparadise in my yard but it is too dark and rainy! Instead here‘s a book with bird in the title! I loved this book. It‘s not set in a #WinterWonderland but on an island off the coast of England on a remote sheep farm. Jake has moved there to get away from her past but can she? And who or what is killing her sheep? Creepy, sad & cleverly told.

This is superb read although a little challenging. Throughout it I kept thinking how depressing it would have been to write it. Its melancholic tone is dark and rarely uplifting. A story of grief classic and intense. A fine piece of literature. 


Woo-hoo finished this book just after I hit 24 hours. Thank you to all of the wonderful people who put in all of the work to make #24in48 two of the best weekends of the year. And thanks to all of the awesome littens, you guys make this event so much fun.

This one was dark and turned out better than I expected.

Great cover, weird book. Not sure how I feel about it except kind of icky and sad.

Intense. The writer conveys a sense of dirtiness throughout.

My round 14 of @Ange44 and I's #tenatatime tbr project. That's 140 books so far, people!

I finished this one this morning and I've been thinking all day what to write about it. I enjoyed the book. It felt like it was written in two different directions. You start in the middle and half the book moves forward and the other half moves backwards. The descriptions were fantastic though parts were quite gruesome.

A trauma victim slowly goes mad. A quick read because you are hooked straight away. Can't wait to read her other book.

Didn't love it but very glad I read it. The best part was the structure of the story . The book jumps between Jake's present life & Jake's past. The past is told in reverse order. It's a very well written book but still not sure whether I like the ending or not.

A few chapters in & I'm spooked... must read on...

Simply an amazing read! I was hooked from the beginning.

I loved the structure of this book. Jake's past in Australia is told in reverse chronological order, while her present in the U.K. Is told chronologically. The atmosphere of both locations is desolate and oppressive. The character of Jake is complicated and complex. Her story is intricate, compelling, and violent. This is one of the best novels I have read this year, but be warned - it is very dark.

I was so excited to find this at Dollar Tree and it's all your fault. I never knew that they sold books until I saw it on Litsy (and I didn't even know that we had Dollar Tree in Canada).

Any fans of this one?

This is one of those books where the pacing and atmosphere get full credit for the constant feeling of tension and foreboding. The dread is near-constant—but understated with Wyld's sparse, brooding prose. We know that something(s) bad has happened to Jake, but we don't know the full extent of her story until the very end. And the truth might change the way you view everything else.

A distinctly Australian voice throughout this novel drives it forward alternating between an Aussie outback landscape and a cold British island. There is something sinister lurking in each chapter and I'm grateful for the scenery changes that give me a break from some heavy and challenging storylines. This book left me hanging with a few unanswered questions which may be clever but ultimately left me unsatisfied. Regardless, it sucked me in.

This troubling, totally engrossing and exquisitely written Australian novel is another five star read from a new(ish) female author. Set concurrently on a craggy, weather-beaten British island and in remote sheep-farming territory of Western Australia, the story is creeping with loneliness, isolation and escape. The characters are few and all extremely flawed and the tension is, at times, hard to bear.

#Australianauthors #readingwomenmonth
I started off recalling evie wyld's brilliant first novel set in both Australia and Scotland but when I googled her she is down as Anglo-Australian so I've added another book i loved The Secret River by Kate Greville. This is definitely a rich vein of fiction and there are many i want to try particularly Elizabeth harrower The watchtower.

Only just started this one, but immediately hooked.

This was a page turner and I liked the two narratives running conversely, but the end??? I need to ruminate over it.

Do not want to stop, but I really, really should. 😳

"The way the land seemed to be watching me, feeling my foreignness in it, holding its breath until I passed by." ??

This week's thrifty finds! In particular I am looking forward to All the Birds. I also have a special penchant for the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, they are my comfort feel good reads.

I finished this one on audio today and really enjoyed it. The narrator did a great job and I loved listening to her Australian accent. Another story of a woman trying to outrun her past with her present story playing out in chronological order but her past story told in reverse chronology.

Fine stuff. Two timelines, one moving forwards and the other backwards. Clever but also human. Events in the now force a confrontation with the then, delving further and further back to uncover the original sin which still haunts. Literary and complex while staying earthy and accessible. A fine novel.

#Riotgrams #favoritecover

This is the story of Jake Whyte. She is a sheep farmer and now her sheep are dyeing unexpected deaths. As the story progress in the present, the reader also get to now about her past.

This is a great story and I'm probably a little late in discovering this.
#24in48

On to the third book. So far so good 😊 #24in48

My next read.

A bit of a change from Lemony Snicket.

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