Cuckoo: Michael Grey - story 1

by Isabella Muir

With Christmas just a few weeks away, there's a winter surprise awaiting Michael Grey...

Cuckoo is the first in a series of short stories tracking the life and times of a young man - Michael Grey – as he realises that so many of the characteristics and habits of the birds he loves to watch are reflected in the people closest to him.

Set in and around Hastings, Sussex, in December 1960, this series brings together the fascinating history and folklore of that area, while exploring the significant social and cultural changes taking place during the 1960s. All the while, wildlife lies at the heart of every story, as a reminder of the critical relationship between mankind and nature.

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2023

About the author

Isabella is never happier than when she is immersing herself in the sights, sounds and experiences of family life from the Second World War years through to the 1960s. Researching all aspects of life back then formed the perfect launch pad for her works of fiction. Isabella rediscovered her love of writing fiction during two happy years working on and completing her MA in Professional Writing and since then she has gone on to publish six novels, three novellas and two short story collections.

Her love of Italy shines through all her work and, as she is half-Italian, she has enjoyed bringing all her crime novels to an Italian audience with Italian translations, which are very well received.

Her latest novel, After the Storm, is the second novel in a new series of Sussex Crimes, featuring retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi who is escaping from tragedy in Rome, only to arrive in the quiet seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, to come face-to-face with it once more.

Her first Sussex Crime Mystery series features young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. Set in the late 1960s, in the fictional seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, we meet Janie, who looks after the mobile library. She is an avid lover of Agatha Christie stories – in particular Hercule Poirot. Janie uses all she has learned from the Queen of Crime to help solve crimes and mysteries. As well as three novels, there are three novellas in the series, which explore some of the back story to the Tamarisk Bay characters.

Isabella’s standalone novel, The Forgotten Children, deals with the emotive subject of the child migrants who were sent to Australia – again focusing on family life in the 1960s, when the child migrant policy was still in force.
Find out more about Isabella and her books by visiting her website at: www.isabellamuir.com

Reviews

[Christine Goodnough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short story, part of a series. Michael hears a cuckoo at a time when the birds would normally have migrated south, so he consults a good friend and fellow ornithologist. He learns something about this older man's life, as well as about the birds.