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Birdseye
As children growing up at Marchbanks, an imposing mansion built high on a hill above a Cape seaside town, Bird and her five siblings love to hear the story of how their father wooed their mother, but they don’t know much about the past of their reclusive grandmother, Ma Bess, who rules Marchbanks from its shadows and keeps her stories firmly locked in her cold heart.
When Bird’s ten-year-old twin brothers Oliver and Oscar go missing after a day of fishing, Bird appoints herself the family scribe and begins writing to the brothers she refuses to believe are gone for good. The elderly Ma Bess may be the voice in command at Marchbanks, but Bird, the youngest in the family, becomes its all-seeing eye. If Bird learns the truth, though, can life at Marchbanks ever be the same?
With humour and pathos, Birdseye contemplates loss, love that endures, and the courage it takes to voice one’s truth, no matter the circumstances
When Bird’s ten-year-old twin brothers Oliver and Oscar go missing after a day of fishing, Bird appoints herself the family scribe and begins writing to the brothers she refuses to believe are gone for good. The elderly Ma Bess may be the voice in command at Marchbanks, but Bird, the youngest in the family, becomes its all-seeing eye. If Bird learns the truth, though, can life at Marchbanks ever be the same?
With humour and pathos, Birdseye contemplates loss, love that endures, and the courage it takes to voice one’s truth, no matter the circumstances
- GenresSouth AfricaFiction
400 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 18, 2017
As the youngest of five siblings, Amelia Little, aka Bird, feels excluded from the activities of her three sisters and twin brothers, Oz and Ollie. Fisher is masterful at describing details of Bird’s resourceful character and her feelings of loneliness and rejection when it seems that her parents and siblings prevent her, time and again, from participating in their activities. It is difficult not to empathize with her frustration and sadness.
Tragedy strikes and the twins fail to return from an afternoon spent fishing. It is Bird who, through a series of letters she loyally writes to them over a period of ten years, keeps the memory of the boys alive.
Looming like a large, malevolent shadow over Marchbanks, the imposing family home, is grandmother, Ma Bess. Her power over every aspect of the family’s lives is absolute and unquestioned. Except by the brave little Bird. I’ll desist from further description of the story line, except to say the plot is well constructed, the tension and pace accelerating to an interesting and exciting ending.
I had to stand back a little after reading the last pages to assimilate the impact of this book on me. In retrospect, I’ll remember “Birdseye” for its excellent and complex characterization, especially of Bird, the well-researched and haunting resolution of a sad, senseless crime, the familiar “South Africanisms” that brought life and immediacy to the plot and the proud realisation that a little-known author surprised and delighted me with a truly amazing read.
Well done, Máire Fisher. Where have you been hiding? I’d love to read your next book.
Tragedy strikes and the twins fail to return from an afternoon spent fishing. It is Bird who, through a series of letters she loyally writes to them over a period of ten years, keeps the memory of the boys alive.
Looming like a large, malevolent shadow over Marchbanks, the imposing family home, is grandmother, Ma Bess. Her power over every aspect of the family’s lives is absolute and unquestioned. Except by the brave little Bird. I’ll desist from further description of the story line, except to say the plot is well constructed, the tension and pace accelerating to an interesting and exciting ending.
I had to stand back a little after reading the last pages to assimilate the impact of this book on me. In retrospect, I’ll remember “Birdseye” for its excellent and complex characterization, especially of Bird, the well-researched and haunting resolution of a sad, senseless crime, the familiar “South Africanisms” that brought life and immediacy to the plot and the proud realisation that a little-known author surprised and delighted me with a truly amazing read.
Well done, Máire Fisher. Where have you been hiding? I’d love to read your next book.
January 11, 2015
I’m browsing the South African Fiction shelves in the bookstore, checking out the latest competition.
‘Birdseye’, by Maire Fisher.
Maire? How do you pronounce that? I’m already skeptical. First novel – another red light.
But the title intrigues me.
I flip open the cover and read page one. At page nineteen I look up and realise I’m in trouble: nothing to do with the book – I’m late for movies with my wife!
I love this tale told in narration. Gentle, patient and carefully worded, it builds to an unexpectedly tense and satisfying climax. Each character is worthy of their place in this terribly human drama:
Orville and Annie – a love story that attempts to anchor the turbulence of life at Marchbanks.
Ma Bess – a despot to rival Miss Havisham.
Anthea, Angela and Alice – as different and divided as only sisters can be, and little help to the baby of the family:Bird.
Bird is aptly named as the narrator and protagonist in this story: small, plain and sometimes timid, but with a spirit that soars above the ground floor of life at Ma Bess’s mansion. She alone is loyal enough to the memory of her brothers to confront and defeat the evil that threatens to destroy her family. Bird will stay with me long after this book is buried in my shelves, and I’ll be happy to have her flitting around.
Sweet Bird. Brave Bird. Birdseye.
‘Birdseye’, by Maire Fisher.
Maire? How do you pronounce that? I’m already skeptical. First novel – another red light.
But the title intrigues me.
I flip open the cover and read page one. At page nineteen I look up and realise I’m in trouble: nothing to do with the book – I’m late for movies with my wife!
I love this tale told in narration. Gentle, patient and carefully worded, it builds to an unexpectedly tense and satisfying climax. Each character is worthy of their place in this terribly human drama:
Orville and Annie – a love story that attempts to anchor the turbulence of life at Marchbanks.
Ma Bess – a despot to rival Miss Havisham.
Anthea, Angela and Alice – as different and divided as only sisters can be, and little help to the baby of the family:Bird.
Bird is aptly named as the narrator and protagonist in this story: small, plain and sometimes timid, but with a spirit that soars above the ground floor of life at Ma Bess’s mansion. She alone is loyal enough to the memory of her brothers to confront and defeat the evil that threatens to destroy her family. Bird will stay with me long after this book is buried in my shelves, and I’ll be happy to have her flitting around.
Sweet Bird. Brave Bird. Birdseye.
April 7, 2015
A beautiful story of a girl's love and loyalty. It's a coming-of-age story; set in a sleepy fishing village south of Cape Town, Amelia Little, known to her family as Bird, loves her twin brothers very much. Her allies, her playmates, the ones who teach her, tease her, get up to tricks with her, go missing -- never to be found. Amelia never forgets as she begins to write to them, describing and recording life at home. She is the eye that watches, the eye that sees the injustices as she records everything so that her brothers will not miss out. It's lovely, it's heart-wrenching. You'll never forget little Bird.
August 8, 2015
From the start I could not put this book down - the author has a beautiful writing style, one that allows the reader to be inside the characters. The family life will resonate with so many, sibling jealousies, sibling love. Why is Ma Bess always so mean? There is a lot to smile about with the escapades of the main character Bird. But too always a darkness around the missing boys - this intensifies in the final chapters but once again Birds approach to family issues lightens the story line and has the reader smiling again. Very looking forward to reading more by this amazing author.
August 19, 2017
It is about two years since I read this, and still the poignant scene in the police station with the box stays with me... The book gave insights into life in South Africa, tensions within families and political tensions outside overlapping and merging within a story of loss and growth.
August 24, 2014
Absolutely loved this book. If this is her first I await another with anticipation
September 9, 2018
The best book I've read this summer! Superbly written, nicely paced, and I was never bored. The characters are well-developed and I loved Bird, the main character. I really liked reading a story that takes place in South Africa - not a location that is often used as a setting, at least not in the books I read. Looking forward to reading more by Maire Fisher.
December 24, 2019
Really enjoyed this and loved that all the girls had names starting with an A!! Well written story and loved that it was set in Cape Town and you didn’t realise it too much.
July 2, 2019
I absolutely adored Maire's book! Despite the devastating loss, the view of the world through Bird's eyes is charming, beautiful, oh so refreshing and honest! I related to the town, it's people and the South African way of life, with all it's wrongs. It's a beautiful read that makes you cry and laugh. I loved it!
July 26, 2018
Gutsy character!
Reading "Birdseye", set in my home town, albeit imaginary in details, was a thrilling experience. I felt as if I got to know the characters in a different way from reading books set elsewhere in the world; and Bird is a character worth getting to know. She is naive, forthright and brave. Her story and the story of her family moved me both to anger towards her cruel grandmother and compassion towards her parents and siblings who suffered beneath the matriarch's demands. The story demanded that I read further to find out what happened to her brothers, her grandfather and to her. I could not put the book down and the ending was as satisfying as I could have hoped for. I highly recommend this novel.
Reading "Birdseye", set in my home town, albeit imaginary in details, was a thrilling experience. I felt as if I got to know the characters in a different way from reading books set elsewhere in the world; and Bird is a character worth getting to know. She is naive, forthright and brave. Her story and the story of her family moved me both to anger towards her cruel grandmother and compassion towards her parents and siblings who suffered beneath the matriarch's demands. The story demanded that I read further to find out what happened to her brothers, her grandfather and to her. I could not put the book down and the ending was as satisfying as I could have hoped for. I highly recommend this novel.
May 22, 2018
Bird (Amelia) is the youngest of six children who live with their gentle parents, Annie and Orville Little in the large home of their matriarchal-cum-monstrous grandmother, Ma Bess in a seaside town near Cape Town. When her twin brothers (aged ten) go missing, six-year-old Bird begins writing about the family. Her objective is to ensure that when they return, the twins will easily catch up on life in the Little family. She’s also determined to keep them alive in her mind.
Several things happen in the decade that follows. Bird describes her parents’ sorrow as it becomes evident the twins are not coming home. She writes of her sisters, Angela, Alice and Anthea, and their very different passages from teens to adults. Readers get a glimpse of life in newly democratised South Africa as housekeeper Thelma is able to vote for the first time in 1994 and eventually leaves to live with her own family from whom she’s been largely separated for decades. Bird also discovers that Ma Bess is even more embittered and malicious than the family imagined.
In Birdseye, Cape Town-based author Máire Fisher has created a novel that’s a great deal more than a coming-of-age story. It’s a romance about Annie and Orville, and a family history that spans three generations. It’s also something of a crime story as Detective Uys (known as Detective Ace by Bird) and his team eventually find out what happened to the twins, and, particularly where Alice and Bird are concerned, a feminist story. And Ma Bess? She helps take the story further into the noir territory. The plot is fascinating, the writing polished and the characters convincing. Birdseye is Fisher’s first novel with another imminent. I look forward to it.
Several things happen in the decade that follows. Bird describes her parents’ sorrow as it becomes evident the twins are not coming home. She writes of her sisters, Angela, Alice and Anthea, and their very different passages from teens to adults. Readers get a glimpse of life in newly democratised South Africa as housekeeper Thelma is able to vote for the first time in 1994 and eventually leaves to live with her own family from whom she’s been largely separated for decades. Bird also discovers that Ma Bess is even more embittered and malicious than the family imagined.
In Birdseye, Cape Town-based author Máire Fisher has created a novel that’s a great deal more than a coming-of-age story. It’s a romance about Annie and Orville, and a family history that spans three generations. It’s also something of a crime story as Detective Uys (known as Detective Ace by Bird) and his team eventually find out what happened to the twins, and, particularly where Alice and Bird are concerned, a feminist story. And Ma Bess? She helps take the story further into the noir territory. The plot is fascinating, the writing polished and the characters convincing. Birdseye is Fisher’s first novel with another imminent. I look forward to it.
July 5, 2018
A beautifully written tale, the story of a family, their love for one another and the manipulative hold of the matriarch on them all.
Bird is a delight, and I really enjoyed getting to know her.
Bird is a delight, and I really enjoyed getting to know her.
April 4, 2018
Something different made all the more enjoyable because it's set in South Africa. Loved it.
April 28, 2017
You know the kind of book that keeps you up at night because you just don't have the will power to close the pages? This is one of those.
Superb writing and story.
Exceptional.
Read it.
Superb writing and story.
Exceptional.
Read it.
March 2, 2018
Youngest daughter/child becomes self-appointed scribe relating happenings in her family after her twin brotherd (10 years old) disappear one day. It appears to be set in the Kalkbay area. The familial mansion is controlled totally by the awful grandmother who rules the roost from upstairs.
I enjoyed the book as it presented the family saga in a novel way.
I enjoyed the book as it presented the family saga in a novel way.
Read
June 10, 2016My interview with the author:
http://ssda.bookslive.co.za/blog/2015...
Not an easy book to quote from. Many lines that struck a chord would spoil the story for the next reader. Which is unfair to both future readers and the author. So takes these as a pale shadow of a compelling read.
- I must have been the only girl in town who looked for her real parents in their wardrobes. My father's left-behind clothes, mothballed for eternity. My mother's - row upon row of bright suits, dresses, gowns. Pumps, and open-toed sandals. -
- By the time I was born, four years later, everything had run out. The last to go had been hope, waving a final goodbye, as Annie learned she was pregnant with me. -
- My dreams weren't what frightened me. It was waking up from them...-
- I learned to deny who I was, creating a person totally unlike myself. I learned to squash my thirst for knowledge, my longing to let stories spill out of me. -
- And then, if what she sees and hears pleases her, she bends a little lower, sucks our dreams away and leaves us flat and empty. -
http://ssda.bookslive.co.za/blog/2015...
Not an easy book to quote from. Many lines that struck a chord would spoil the story for the next reader. Which is unfair to both future readers and the author. So takes these as a pale shadow of a compelling read.
- I must have been the only girl in town who looked for her real parents in their wardrobes. My father's left-behind clothes, mothballed for eternity. My mother's - row upon row of bright suits, dresses, gowns. Pumps, and open-toed sandals. -
- By the time I was born, four years later, everything had run out. The last to go had been hope, waving a final goodbye, as Annie learned she was pregnant with me. -
- My dreams weren't what frightened me. It was waking up from them...-
- I learned to deny who I was, creating a person totally unlike myself. I learned to squash my thirst for knowledge, my longing to let stories spill out of me. -
- And then, if what she sees and hears pleases her, she bends a little lower, sucks our dreams away and leaves us flat and empty. -
August 6, 2015
Complex family relationships. A mystery disappearance. A detective. Friendship. Family secrets. Determination. A beautifully told story of family love and heartbreak and joy.
Bird the narrator of the story in the youngest of five children and the story is told through her eyes from when she was six until she is sixteen. There are so many poignant, well described moments like this one:
'So there I was, Bird, flying fast and true, my skirt lifted by the wind, a furious gladness in my heart. I was free to lean into the taut pliancy of his back, move as his bike did, from left to right, curling aound corners, fast on the straight. Too fast, because we arrived at Marchbanks within minutes. Paolo stopped the bike and waited for me to clamber off. I unlcipped the helmet,worried that my hair was a mess, only too aware of my blue skirt adn plain white blouse, untucked now at the waist, my short ankle socks and childish school shoes, my rucksack with the babyish badges pinned to the straps.'
Bird the narrator of the story in the youngest of five children and the story is told through her eyes from when she was six until she is sixteen. There are so many poignant, well described moments like this one:
'So there I was, Bird, flying fast and true, my skirt lifted by the wind, a furious gladness in my heart. I was free to lean into the taut pliancy of his back, move as his bike did, from left to right, curling aound corners, fast on the straight. Too fast, because we arrived at Marchbanks within minutes. Paolo stopped the bike and waited for me to clamber off. I unlcipped the helmet,worried that my hair was a mess, only too aware of my blue skirt adn plain white blouse, untucked now at the waist, my short ankle socks and childish school shoes, my rucksack with the babyish badges pinned to the straps.'
September 29, 2014
Loved this book! A fabulous story of an unusual family. Beautifully told through the voice of Bird.
January 22, 2015
I loved this novel. Maire, please write more. Bird so needs to be set free and allowed to fly as a private investigator in a series.
April 4, 2016
I could hardly put the book down. Maire Fisher is a talented South African writer and I can't wait to read her next novel.
May 14, 2021
"And then I wonder if it’s true what people say, that time does its work and eventually acceptance happens. By that they mean that we’ve all accepted that you’ve gone for ever. That you died somewhere and somewhere your bodies are waiting to be found. Or will never be found. And then, they all say, you can be put to rest. But they’re wrong, of course.
It’s like Eric Clapton’s song. Time’s a heartbreaker, not a healer.
My heart has been broken since you left and nothing is going to persuade me to say you’ve gone.
How can you say someone’s dead until you know for sure?
And even if you think they might be, how can you let them die in your heart?
That’s where people live, that’s where time can’t ever, ever do its fade-away work. "
It’s like Eric Clapton’s song. Time’s a heartbreaker, not a healer.
My heart has been broken since you left and nothing is going to persuade me to say you’ve gone.
How can you say someone’s dead until you know for sure?
And even if you think they might be, how can you let them die in your heart?
That’s where people live, that’s where time can’t ever, ever do its fade-away work. "
June 9, 2021
Loved seeing the world through Bird's eyes. This book deals with the intricacies of family, loss, and grief and how it has myriad effects on all of us. Yet, at the same time it is an easy read, with Bird's strong voice pulling you along as she grows and her views of the world change. I hope there is a sequel. Would love to know how she keeps growing.
October 6, 2019
Loved reading this book. As with The Enumerations I kept forgetting it was a South African story and author until a local place was quoted.
May 22, 2021
4.5/5, I loved this but it was so sad in parts. So much complexity within the family, such tragic circumstances and the characters are very strong, all with their flaws, but you find yourself invested in them.
I read this book due to needing a “set in Africa” option for a reading list. Hadn’t heard of the author but will certainly seek out further books.
Definitely recommended.
I read this book due to needing a “set in Africa” option for a reading list. Hadn’t heard of the author but will certainly seek out further books.
Definitely recommended.
July 30, 2016
My review can be found on my blog - The Book Musings
Actual rating - 3.5
Actual rating - 3.5
April 27, 2016
Lucky find at our local library. Book is set near Cape Town and written by a South African author. Enjoyed it a lot.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews