I found this book extremely odd. The woman who created the bird cottage, formerly a concert violinist, seemed a lot off to me. She claimed she understood bird language. Maybe she did, maybe not. But she chose to live a reclusive life that I found extremely disturbing.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

I attempted to read this title and ultimately decided it wasn't for me. It was not engaging in the way that I hoped it would be and i'm sorry to say I didn't finish it.

I loved this quirky little book. It‘s based on a real person, Len Howard, who devotes her life to learning about birds, and believes they should be observed in their natural habitat, not in a lab. She ends up with birds free to come and go from her cottage, but noisy annoying people are less than welcome!

There are novelised aspects, interspersed with extracts from her diaries; utterly charming!

I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention.

This was so heartwarming to read. I am a huge fan of violins and nature. And to have them both in here is a bonus point. Though the writing feels a bit dull at places, I was invested in it through and through. And to know that this book is based on a real person sent down on a Google search hole. Overall, this is a book that's must read for all bird lovers.

This was an enjoyable read and really picked up abou half way through when Len decides to change her whole lifestyle and circumstances in order to better study birds, their calls, communication, and relationships. An insightful read into the life of a genuinely interesting real person following her love and interest in nature.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for a gifted book of Bird Cottage by Eva Meijer. All opinions are my own.

Len Howard loves playing the violin and studying birds. At the age of 40 she leaves society and settles into "bird cottage" where she spends her days studying bird behavior.

This is a fascinating book for bird lovers. At few times I did get lost due some jumping around in the storyline but I loved this book. The bond and trust between Len Howard and the wild birds is a beautiful story. Anyone who has ever shared their life with a bird knows that it takes a special relationship for a bird to have complete trust in humans.

This one was a disappointment. I usually enjoy biographical fiction and nature writing, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, the confusing structure and the dry, monotone style kept me from really getting to know and appreciate Len Howard’s work. Thank you to Eva Meijer, Antoinette Fawcett (translator), Pushkin Press, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Eva Meijer’s Bird Cottage is a fictional biography of Gwendolen “Len” Howard (1894-1973), a concert musician and self-educated ornithologist, who gave up her music career and most of her human companionship in her forties, retreating to a cottage in Sussex, England. In defiance of societal norms of the period, which would have had her married and raising children, she lived alone and devoted the remainder of her life to studying and writing about common British birds, largely avoiding visitors because they spoke too loudly and moved too quickly, frightening her bird family.

The novel opens in 1965 as Len encounters a hedge-trimmer hired by the municipal government. As he prepares to attack the hedge bordering her property with his power tools during nesting season, Len’s bird friends sound the alarm, causing her to rush out of the cottage, confront the workman, temporarily drive him away, and launch her campaign to prevent his return before all the baby birds have left their nests.

The story soon shifts backward to 1900 as Len, a small child, accompanies her father to town for ground beef and bird seed intended keep a baby bird alive until it can fly away. Meijer tells Len’s story during various periods of her life, 1911, 1914, 1938, and so on, ending in 1973. From her father, she gains an interest in and love for birds that eventually allows her to use her music ability outside the concert hall.

Throughout the book, Howard’s closest neighbors, the birds, flit in and out of her house, sitting on her head and shoulders, communicating with her, and becoming the family she seemed to prefer to humans. Most readers may come away from the novel largely with an appreciation of Howard’s habit of naming her neighboring birds, her love of living among them, and her abilities to learn from and to teach them, as well as to teach others about them through her writing. Meijer weaves some of that writing into the novel, identifying it with italics.

Drawing not only on Len Howard’s published writing, but also unpublished archival materials and anecdotes provided by Ditchling residents, the village where Bird Cottage is located, the author supplements biographical fact with fiction as needed. In Bird Cottage, Eva Meijer skillfully tells the unusual and sometimes sad story of the eccentric, sometimes feisty, but scholarly woman who gave the world two best-selling books and transcribed their songs into music.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pushkin Press, and Eva Meijer for the review copy.

Bird Cottage is a beautiful celebration of one woman, Len Howard, and her unwavering devotion and passion for wild birds. Len's life (1894-1973) was an extraordinary one made even more exceptional by giving up her career as a gifted violinist to open her home to wild birds so as to study them. Roosting boxes all over the house, birds (great tits more often than not) flying about and settling on her as she does her daily chores. Not a simple existence as knocks on the door and people popping around would set the birds aflutter in fear. So she posted signs discouraging others from venturing too close to her house and her birds. I loved this so much! What a woman. I am keenly touched by her story, told here so wonderfully. A keen bird lover myself I clearly need to up my game. Not sure I could deal with the chaos in my life but relished reading about her findings and introductions to her dearest ones. I still feel the impact of this novel. I cannot believe I've never heard of Len before! Upon finishing it I went in search of the two out of print books she published and bought them. I want to dwell in her world a bit longer and learn more of my feathered friends.

I felt sick at the end upon reading the acknowledgments. What a disturbing turn of events that Sussex Naturalists' Trust, the charity to whom Len bequeathed her home as a bird sanctuary, sold her house and land to someone who felled all the trees, save one oak. Len would have been destroyed by that and with good reason. No more habitats for her precious birds. She deserved better than that.

Bird Cottage is a slower and quieter book but well written and interesting. Enjoyed learning about the main character whom I was previously unfamiliar with.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Pushkin Press and Eva Meijer for my copy. This was a lovely book about the little known bird lover Len Howard, who lived in rural East Sussex in the 1940s to 1960s and developed a close relationship with the wild birds that frequented her garden, especially the great tits. They all had names, personalities and littl quirks. I thought it was amazing how she taught one of them to count, and how tame they were, and lived in nest boxes in her bedroom or roosted in her kitchen at night. An unusual and delightful story.

I loved this book. It had me looking at my chirping garden visitors in a new light. I have always loved birds, they make me feel closer to nature and remind me of the sometimes harshness and wonders of planet earth, so resilient creatures for things so tiny, so I adored this really original book. It was a completely fresh perspective in literature. I highly recommend it, especially for bird and animal lovers!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I feel like the description of this book threw me off. I thought it would be about Len Howard's life, and I guess it was, but I didn't realize her whole life revolved around birds. It was really slow, and I'm just not interested in birds enough to read about them in this much detail. I did think the story is well written, so if you really love birds, give it a shot.

I loved this book.

It was about a lady called Gwen who loved birds and music.

The descriptions of the birds are very intriguing. She played the violin and piano.

If you like birds and music then I highly recommend

I was approved for this title last year but it was archived so quickly afterwards that I was unable to download it in time. As such, I cannot access it and I'm leaving this perfunctory review in order to have it not damage my feedback ratio. 5 stars simply so it doesn't affect the title's marketing.

While I am grateful to the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this title, a busy schedule got in the way, and I was unable to read it before it was archived on Netgalley. I will be looking for a physical copy of this title at my local bookstore!

Once you realise that some of the Characters such as Jacob are actually the Field & Garden Birds with whom Len Howard , strikes up remarkable & very trusting relationships you see them & their world in a whole different light. The Book is both enchanting & also very informative too, a truly enjoyable read.

WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL!!!

I highly recommend every bird-lover to read this gem of a book.

It’s made me feel that it’s normal to name the birds in the garden, they become your friends, companions. I shall see Great Tits in a different light now, I’ll watch them more closely, I’ll see their individual personalities, thanks to Ms Meijer. Thanks to Len.

This is a mix of biography and fiction put together in an enchantingly beautiful way and it didn’t make me cry at all. (Lies, I weeped gently because I finished it!)

Gwendolen Howard is born into a bohemian family at the turn of the century. As a child she is obsessed by two things - her violin and the birds she sees in the welsh countryside. Moving to London to become a professional violinist Len is still drawn to the country and the birds. After her father dies Len buys an isolated cottage in Ditchling and devotes the rest of her life to the study of her garden birds.
Reading this book I did not realise it was based on the true life story of an eccentric but passionate woman. Len is such an engaging character, following her passions to the exclusion of everything else. Even the more shocking aspects of the story are dealt with in a gentle and whimsical way. The writing fits the tone beautifully, Len is a pure soul and her passion shines through. Interspersing the narrative with extracts from her books just makes the story come alive.