Owl Song at Dawn

What a fantastic read! Poigniant, atmospheric and beautifully told. Drawing on the author's first hand experience of autism, this story abounds with compassion and a true understanding of the issues portrayed, making this a very special novel which cannot fail to move its readers. Highly recommend.

A book about the perfection of imperfection, about the purity of love shining in an often muddy world.

It is deeply apparent that the author has, in many ways, lived this story which is categorized as "fiction."

Read the book with an open heart and open to looking at life free of the shackles of assumptions obscuring the grace evident all around us.

Maeve runs Sea View Lodge in Morecambe. Nearly eighty years old, Maeve has lived there all her life. A guest house that once catered to civil servants in the war, builders afterwards and now specialises in accommodating travellers with disabilities, Sea View Lodge is filled with a history that Maeve has done her best to keep locked in the shed.

One day Vincent, a friend from her youth, turns up wanting a room and that history begins to break its chains.

Maeve once had a twin, a twin with various disabilities that at that time in England meant Edie was labelled as ‘subnormal’, at best ‘unfortunate’. The history Maeve has locked away is all about how her family fought to care for Edie against all the advice of the time that recommended sending her into institutional care to allow them to focus on their healthy child.

Whilst the third section of the book had me in tears through most of it, there is nothing sentimental or politically cautious about Emma Claire Sweeney’s writing. Maeve writes the whole novel to Edie and yet for years she hasn’t mentioned her name to anyone. This is a woman making the best of a bad hand whose resentment and anger acts as a barrier and for whom intimacy is difficult. Whose life then is set out for us to judge? Whose life has more value? Which twin has had the raw deal?

Intersected with Maeve’s narrative are passages of Edie’s words – mostly remembered lyrics, poems and repeated phrases that reveal a deeper knowledge of her sister’s situation regardless of Maeve’s excellent school reports and exam results – and letters and reports from doctors, social workers and others regarding the welfare of Edie and Maeve’s other charges at Sea View Lodge, as well as builder’s reports and personal letters.

The telling of the novel is beautifully crafted, each passage cleverly timed to build our intrigue and understanding of the wider work. This is intelligent and polished writing telling stories about those whose voices are all too often unheard. Not only will you want to stay up all night reading for the contemporary and historical plot, you won’t fail to appreciate the delicate elegance of the writing. Owl Song at Dawn is a book that should go straight onto bestseller and prize-winning lists. Get ahead of the crowd and read it now.

This book is an amazing debut novel. A story of a families love, a "sub normal" child and secrets. This is a moving story that will make the reader feel a large array of emotions.
Maeve is a strong woman who has been though her own heartbreak and she needs answers from long ago.
This is a book you don't want to miss and an author to keep on eye on.. Hard to believe this is a debut. It is a flawless read that will remain in your thoughts for quite a while.

This gem is currently being offered though Amazon as an ebook for $4.99. Well worth the price not miss this one

Thank you NetGalley and Legend Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 Maeve is nearing eighty and except for her time in college has never lived anywhere else but in Sea View Lodge. A Lodge that caters to the mentally and physically disadvantage, and where two young people with Downs syndrome live and work. This is now her life now, but she once had a twin sister, Edie, a sister who was born mentally and physically handicapped, a sister she loved very much. A sister her mother and father kept at home despite pressure from the doctors and social services to institutionalize her, a sister whose eventual fate causes her unending grief and guilt. Then a friend from the past arrives and just maybe she can come to terms with her past.

This book was inspired by the Author's own sister and it is a emotional but worthy read. The pressure in the fifties and sixties to sterilize these unfortunate children, to institutionalize them and basically to forget about them and concentrate on their remaining family members, heartbreaking. Maeve's story as she tries to live her own life, while always including her sister, was just full of lobe and hope. Things don't turn out as planned for her but she makes the most of what she has left by catering to and helping others less fortunate. The present story and the past story were equally compelling, something that I very rarely find in books that skip back and forth in time. I enjoyed these characters, and in between we hear from Edie herself, in the special way she thinks and feels. Added a personal touch and insight as well. All in all a very good and heartfelt story.

ARC from Netgalley.

This was a very heart felt read. We find Maeve an 80 year old telling the story. It weaves the past and the present but really more reminiscing to Edie her twin sister. So have a seat with an open mind and enjoy.
Have the tissues ready.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.