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Snow Birds
'The perfect companion for a cosy winter night in - heaven!' Sunday Post
'Grace is a force of nature - it's impossible not to be swept up in admiration for her' LUCY CALDWELL, author of These Days
'Fantastic hero ... Grace is a fabulous character' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
Standing on the edge of the icy Irish sea, the village of Ballybrady typically has a warm embrace for locals and a cold shoulder for outsiders. So when corporate interests threaten the nearby island colony of rare birds, all-weather swimmer Grace - usually so keen to do things on her own - is alarmed to find that her allies in the fight are the Duckie Divers Swimming Club, a raft of city women with expensive gear and good intentions.
Grace reluctantly joins forces with the Duckies to mount an audacious fundraising event that will draw in villagers and city folk alike. As she teaches them the art of the cold swim, she finds herself softening in their company, learning that each woman has her own powerful reason to commit to their cause. Irreverent and irrepressible like Grace herself, Snow Birds is a delightful celebration of found family, unlikely friendship and the thrill of open water.
'Grace is a force of nature - it's impossible not to be swept up in admiration for her' LUCY CALDWELL, author of These Days
'Fantastic hero ... Grace is a fabulous character' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
Standing on the edge of the icy Irish sea, the village of Ballybrady typically has a warm embrace for locals and a cold shoulder for outsiders. So when corporate interests threaten the nearby island colony of rare birds, all-weather swimmer Grace - usually so keen to do things on her own - is alarmed to find that her allies in the fight are the Duckie Divers Swimming Club, a raft of city women with expensive gear and good intentions.
Grace reluctantly joins forces with the Duckies to mount an audacious fundraising event that will draw in villagers and city folk alike. As she teaches them the art of the cold swim, she finds herself softening in their company, learning that each woman has her own powerful reason to commit to their cause. Irreverent and irrepressible like Grace herself, Snow Birds is a delightful celebration of found family, unlikely friendship and the thrill of open water.
- GenresIreland
223 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Two reviews in three days?! I need a lie down or maybe to take a restorative dip in the icy waters off the shore at Ballybrady of which Grace Kielty is so enamoured. For after meeting Grace and other characters from this fictional Northern Irish costal hamlet in Roisin Maguire’s debut novel Night Swimmers I went straight back to read more of their exploits in Snow Birds which is published today. (In my opinion, it is best to read the books in their order of publication).
Life has moved on apace, but Grace is just as much a misanthrope as before, keen to steer clear of folk who don’t live locally (and even some of those who do!). But when the seasonal visit from a small group of rare roseate terns to an island just across the bay is threatened by emerging commercial interests, a reaction is demanded. Who is behind the sale of the island and how can they be stopped? How best to whip up a storm of protest that cannot be ignored? Money talks and so fundraising becomes the order of the day with digital creativity and human resourcefulness suddenly at a premium.
Uncomfortably for Grace she finds her values and aspirations aligned with a disparate group of city women who have formed an oceanic swimming club, The Duckie Divers in her aquatic backyard. But acclimatising to a crowd-drawing swim in chilly Christmas temperatures is new to the Duckies and so it is to Grace that they turn for expertise and guidance.
If Night Swimmers was about the evolution of intimate relationships, by contrast, Snow Birds is a much more gregarious affair involving community, collaboration, seeing beneath the superficial and discovering and appreciating the unique hidden depths of the individual and how they can contribute to the collective. And it is all delivered with dollops of humour, barbs of wit, sparks of bolshiness, and salves of tenderness.
There is less intensity and jeopardy in Snow Birds than in its prequel, but the sense of found family is just as powerful. And although for me it didn’t quite scale the heights of Night Swimmers, it is just as captivating a read.
A massive thank you to publisher Serpents Tail for sending me a beautiful copy of Snow Birds.
Life has moved on apace, but Grace is just as much a misanthrope as before, keen to steer clear of folk who don’t live locally (and even some of those who do!). But when the seasonal visit from a small group of rare roseate terns to an island just across the bay is threatened by emerging commercial interests, a reaction is demanded. Who is behind the sale of the island and how can they be stopped? How best to whip up a storm of protest that cannot be ignored? Money talks and so fundraising becomes the order of the day with digital creativity and human resourcefulness suddenly at a premium.
Uncomfortably for Grace she finds her values and aspirations aligned with a disparate group of city women who have formed an oceanic swimming club, The Duckie Divers in her aquatic backyard. But acclimatising to a crowd-drawing swim in chilly Christmas temperatures is new to the Duckies and so it is to Grace that they turn for expertise and guidance.
If Night Swimmers was about the evolution of intimate relationships, by contrast, Snow Birds is a much more gregarious affair involving community, collaboration, seeing beneath the superficial and discovering and appreciating the unique hidden depths of the individual and how they can contribute to the collective. And it is all delivered with dollops of humour, barbs of wit, sparks of bolshiness, and salves of tenderness.
There is less intensity and jeopardy in Snow Birds than in its prequel, but the sense of found family is just as powerful. And although for me it didn’t quite scale the heights of Night Swimmers, it is just as captivating a read.
A massive thank you to publisher Serpents Tail for sending me a beautiful copy of Snow Birds.
October 18, 2026
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of Snowbirds.
Unfortunately, this one just didn’t quite work for me.
A follow-up to Night Swimmers, the story returns to a small coastal town in Ireland, where Grace, an all-weather swimmer, discovers that an island just off the coast is being sold for corporate development. Determined to stop it, she joins forces with a group of city-dwelling swimmers and sets about trying to raise enough money to save the island and protect the rare birds that live there.
I do wish I’d read Night Swimmers first. I think I might have connected more with Grace if I’d had the chance to get to know her and understand her story before arriving here. As it was, I never really warmed to her, and I found the characters a little lacking in depth.
The book also felt, to me, as though it had been written with a TV adaptation in mind. There are plenty of elements that should have worked for me, but somehow it all felt a little too neat and twee, and ultimately rather empty.
The cover mentions shades of Olive Kitteridge, but unfortunately I didn’t find the same depth of character or emotional complexity that I love in Elizabeth Strout’s writing and in Olive herself.
Perhaps I would feel differently having read Night Swimmers, so I may give that a go at some point. But as it stands, Snowbirds just wasn’t one for me.
Unfortunately, this one just didn’t quite work for me.
A follow-up to Night Swimmers, the story returns to a small coastal town in Ireland, where Grace, an all-weather swimmer, discovers that an island just off the coast is being sold for corporate development. Determined to stop it, she joins forces with a group of city-dwelling swimmers and sets about trying to raise enough money to save the island and protect the rare birds that live there.
I do wish I’d read Night Swimmers first. I think I might have connected more with Grace if I’d had the chance to get to know her and understand her story before arriving here. As it was, I never really warmed to her, and I found the characters a little lacking in depth.
The book also felt, to me, as though it had been written with a TV adaptation in mind. There are plenty of elements that should have worked for me, but somehow it all felt a little too neat and twee, and ultimately rather empty.
The cover mentions shades of Olive Kitteridge, but unfortunately I didn’t find the same depth of character or emotional complexity that I love in Elizabeth Strout’s writing and in Olive herself.
Perhaps I would feel differently having read Night Swimmers, so I may give that a go at some point. But as it stands, Snowbirds just wasn’t one for me.
October 22, 2026
I made it to 50%, so I feel like I gave this one a good go before calling it a day!
I felt no real connection to the characters, and I struggled with the lack of character development and understanding the dynamics between them.
I discovered there's a previous book, Night Swimmers, featuring the same characters!
Maybe I would've connected with the story more if I'd read the first book, but unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.
I felt no real connection to the characters, and I struggled with the lack of character development and understanding the dynamics between them.
I discovered there's a previous book, Night Swimmers, featuring the same characters!
Maybe I would've connected with the story more if I'd read the first book, but unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.
October 19, 2026
Loved it! Please let this be an ongoing series. Grace rocks!
October 19, 2026
Just such a joyful book
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews