So beautiful. As I get older, retreating to the country and spending more time in nature appeals to me more and more. This book resonated with me big time.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good story. It blurred the lines between fact and fiction. I think the author did such a beautiful job of capturing the truth in this story. I love birds so much, so this story will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

This unique book is a curious mixture of a real biography and a fictional life story.  I enjoyed the first three quarters of the life story, but by the final quarter I found her to be quite an unpleasant person, who put the lives of birds before people.  The earlier part of Len’s life, particularly in the orchestra, and the family dynamics, are beautifully written.  The strands of notes on bird activity will be interesting to those who enjoy bird watching, but didn’t really do it for me.  I would buy this book for friends who are true twitchers.

Such a lovely book with interesting stories and birds. Very emotional. Loved it!
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. Captivating read. I loved the jumping back and forth in timelines. I found her observations of music and nature very interesting.

This was a beautiful, very well written novel that captured my imagination. I loved Len and all of the stories. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

This wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it all the same. A delightful, captivating book. An exploration of emotion and relationships and lots of birds!

A refreshing, unpretentious story translated from the Dutch about one extraordinary woman, and her passion for birds and nature - sometimes at the expense of the humans around her, though the book's plain, non-judgmental telling makes it clear that this approach to life is as much of an option as anything else. I will be buying this as gifts for the nature-lovers in my life.

In this strange little novel translated from the Dutch by Antionette Fawcett we are introduced to Len Howard. Len was a real woman born at the turn of the 20th century and she lived her early life in South Wales. She developed an interest in birds from very early on and apparently watched them, rescued them and kept her own notebooks compiled of general notes and “stories”. But in her “real” life as a daughter of a well heeled professional family, expectations of behaviour for a girl from a “respectable” family were laid on her. Her mother regarded the family as “cultured” so Len studied both the piano and violin and was expected to perform (at home). Her requests to go to Music College were blocked until she came of age at 21. She then joined the London Orchestra of a family friend and, in spite of the war, developed her life there. Increasingly in the turmoil of the city not just her music but her study of birds brought her comfort. When her father died, inheritance allowed her to buy a cottage in Ditchling in Sussex where she lived for the rest of her life. A life that was centred on studying “her” birds – primarily great tits.
The book falls into two parts, the first Meijer’s fictional account of her family, her life, in the orchestra and then in her village community. As a woman of a certain generation the depiction of expectations on a young woman of her class are painfully shown. The vagaries of living in a family with damaged or “eccentric” others are quietly nudged into the picture. Her own ways of dealing with life that are certainly not of the common run are hinted at sympathetically.  As a woman who has not studied science her writings on her studies were not taken seriously in “academic” or “expert” circles; but with earlier articles in country magazines after the Second World War she will be persuaded to write books on her birds that then developed an international readership. But she also led the way in identifying early threats to bird numbers at that time and trying to set up protective areas. As she aged she became more isolated, was considered eccentric and her conservation importance became overlooked.
But interleaved with this main tale are “episodes” cleverly derived from her research notes and books on her favourite Great Tits - mostly a female “Star” - in her garden and cottage. She could identify individuals and named them, she followed their lives and breeding patterns, researched their song and tested their intelligence (considerable, variable but she believed greater than most birds) helped by her willingness to allow them into her cottage. 
If you are one of the many people who take pleasure in simple bird watching in your garden no doubt these sparky and visual vignettes will resonate with you. If you have a deeper interest in conservation or how the movement developed this is a subject lesson. The claims of academic ownership of specialist knowledge or expertise is one that still runs, but now set against the awareness of long term studies by others that provide the bedrock of our current understanding of whole species survival and risks. But of course Len was interested in the birds as individuals and “characters” too and that is engaging.
Melding the two types of presentations is quite unusual and it is possible that not all readers will appreciate what is offered, perhaps wanting more of either half. But nonetheless I found this is a compelling book and a good introduction to an exceptional woman who has previously faded from history.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for a kindle version of this book!

Growing up, Gwendolen (Len) Howard has a love of music and birds. She joins an orchestra as a violinist in London, where she lives for several years, but gradually tires of city life.

She then moves to the countryside in Sussex and buys ‘Bird Cottage’ where she decides to study the birds. She goes on to have many articles printed and a couple of books published on her studies and observations.

This delightful book is a fictional take on Len Howard’s life, as apparently not much is known about her life. If you’re a bird nerd like me, you will love the sections in the book that describe their habits and interactions with both Len and each other. These sections are interwoven with snapshots of time during Len’s life.

This is a beautiful, although somewhat melancholy book that I really enjoyed. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 from me!

The book covers when Len was a little girl in a Wales, then a violinist in London, and then she moves to a small cottage in Sussex. Interesting view of her love of music and birds. Her observations and point of view is intriguing and if you love nature you will love reading her story. The only thing I disliked was the jumping back and forth so much. Much prefer a straightforward timeline in stories. Still though, highly recommend this book.

What a beautifully written book! I was hooked on this book from the first page. It was a wonderful story and the author brought the book to life with her words. If you like birds, you will love this book. Thank you Pushkin Press via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

First off I thought this was a work of fiction, I had no idea Len was a real person. Now I must read all of her writings and books.

This reads like a lovely piece of fiction, and it is in part a fictionalized story about the life of Len Howard. The author takes some historical fact and works up a fine tale. I think I highlighted about 2/3 of the book. It reads wonderfully.

Admittedly at first there was a bit of shock that was unexpected, the story is not for the faint hearted as some of the bird tales are not happy ending stories. Parts of this just broke my heart.

Review  Eva Meijer. Bird Cottage Pushkin Press

Translated from the Dutch by Antoinette Fawcett

The title of the book is taken from the name of a house in Sussex in which the naturalist Len (Gwendolen) Howard lived and wrote from 1938.  Howard wrote books on birds, based on years of living with them closely observing their behaviours, Meijer’s work is partly fictional, partly biographical based on Howard’s letters.  

Born in the early years of the 20th century to a poet father and depressed mother Howard gave up an early career as a violinist and the possibility of marriage in order to live alone and write about her birds.

  This imagining of her life brings to light her struggles to be taken seriously as a naturalist.  

Konrad Lorenz’s book in which he describes how he lives with all kinds of animals, is treated far more seriously that mine, probably because he has proper qualifications, writes scientific articles, is a man.  Yet his observations are less original than mine.  Moreover the birds have freely chosen to live with me whereas Lorenz rears his and so influences their behaviour.

The factual elements of the book are Interesting for observations on animal behaviour such as:

“Darwin’s work on animal intelligence, for example, is regarded as unscientific because it is primarily based on anecdotal evidence.  Behaviourism, however, does not properly take account of the fact that many animals behave differently in captivity than when they are free.”

Yet I found some of the dialogue slow moving and unconvincing which may be a result of translation.  

“Cook rings the bell. Tea is ready.  I go upstairs to put away my violin.  Mike is singing in the garden.  Ta-da-da, tada.”

There’s not much sense of the history against which the story is set  - a brief mention of some suffragettes  and force feeding “it must be dreadful”.  Gwen recognises a soldier as “one of the chaps Kingsley used to play tennis with”.   The second world war gets barely a mention.    

Gwen’s character comes across as completely self-absorbed, out of touch with her family -she fails to attend her own father’s funeral – and with the momentous events that shook the world through the first half of the twentieth century.  She’s not the most empathetic of characters but obviously the birds like her.    I understand that the intention may have been to show that this is what it took to live life on your own terms for a woman.  But I do not know if this is the case – I felt I did not know the character any better by the end of the book than at the beginning.

A lovely book for bird lovers and anyone who enjoys a gentle read. The story of Len;who gives up being a professional musician to study birds in a Sussex
cottage, is beautifuly written and compelling. Thoroughly recommended.

Meijer has created a beautifully written imagining of the early  life that led to the  almost entire (self imposed) isolation of a woman whose research into birds was all consuming. The descriptions are lush and vivid.

There is something melancholy and almost sterile in Gwendolyn dealings with humanity. Shying away from love and affection “Len “  is almost emotionless about human toils and Troubles but caters to every need of the birds in her surrounds. There is an eccentricity and rigidness to the routines that made me idly wonder whether she may have been on  the Asperger s spectrum.

Engaging but not a joyous read.

Gwendolen Howard moved from London to Sussex in February 1938. Disenchanted with London life, she left a good career as a violinist to pursue another passion - that of observing birds. Here she lived the rest of her life, in relative solitude, interacting with the garden birds and studying their behaviours.
This is a fictionalised account of a real person. What grabbed my attention from the beginning was the account of her interactions with the birds.
Interspersed with this was the back story Gwendolen's life in London which I didn't find particularly believable. Apparently she had not intention of getting married and was far too emancipating to be tied down to one man and was not going to waste herself on marriage and children. Maybe she did feel that way, but I wasn't really convinced and to be honest, not really interested.
What fascinated me was the rural life, the birds, the interaction. Was it true that she taught a bird to count? Amazing! When the author was focusing on Gwendolen's studies I was enthralled and enchanted. I loved these parts and would have loved it if the whole book had been about this.

This is one of those books where you will love it or say "not for me".  I thought it would be a book perhaps about an elderly lady raising birds, watching them and maybe neighbors complaining, etc.  But, that not the way the story goes.  This book is great for those learning the ways and lives of birds, where they come from, how they care for their young, etc.  Then, part of the book does deal with a lady that keeps birds, talks to them, etc.  I skimmed the pages of true information, then tried to get into the story line but, at times, did not know if it was a bird or a human talking.  I had to give it up, but it could be a great book for the right person.  I want to thank Net Galley for giving me the chance to read it.

Note: I received an advanced readers' copy in exchange for my honest review of this book! 

I really enjoyed this book. If you need a lovely and calming book to read before you go to bed, then please buy this book. I really enjoy a slow read covering nature lovers and this fits the bill perfectly. I enjoyed the slow pace of this book and it really got quite emotional at points. Overall, what a lovely and wonderful read that I fully recommend! This book will not be for everyone, but if nature books are your thing, then BUY IT!

A must read for bird lovers. 

This gorgeous novel tells the story of Len Howard, the incredible woman who defied convention and chose to dedicate much of her life to her studies at Bird Cottage, where she forms fascinating interspecies bonds with the local avians. 

Though the book is technically fiction, Meijer does a wonderful job of blending research on the life of Howard with compelling fiction to round out the novel. 

The book will break your heart a bit, multiple times throughout the narrative and particularly at the end, but it’s well worth it for the compelling insight into Howard, her avian companions, and the enthralling ways in which they interact and communicate with one another. 

And for those who fret about these things (as I do), the translation of the novel into English is wonderfully done.