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Murmurations
For the first time since he'd left the island he thought of the starlings massed at dusk in the winter trees behind the children's home. He remembered the rustle of their wings when they twisted in skeins over the fields, or swelled and contracted high above the cliffs, dark wave after dark wave, lifting and falling in a kind of dance. Sister Lucy had said it was a murmuration. He was still quite young, and he had thought the birds were showing him a sign, that there was something written in their fluid patterns. Lives merge and diverge; they soar and plunge, or come to rest in impenetrable silence. Erris Cleary's absence haunts the pages of this exquisite novella, a woman who complicates other lives yet confers unexpected blessings. Fly far, be free, urges Erris. Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice? Among the sudden shifts and swings, the swerving flight paths taken, something hidden must be uncovered, something dark and rotten, even evil, which has masqueraded as normality. In the end it will be a writer's task to reclaim Erris, to bear witness, to sound in fiction the one true note that will crack the silence.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 30, 2020
*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
Occasionally you will find a gem of a book that will give you cause to stop and think. Murmurations is that book!
I loved this little book of stories and once I had finished I read it all over again. I needed to capture those little details that can be missed in a first reading.
Characters ebb and flow through each story, their lives moving and flowing in formation, unknowingly lead by Erris.
There is the receptionist, Erris’s close friends, the landscaper, the writer, the cleaner, all touched by Erris and her cry for help. The question that runs through the readers mind is; ‘Was Erris mentally unstable or was something more sinister at play here?’
Each story reflects on a significant moment in that character’s life. Moments of revelation and despair, when their life was altered forever.
Carol Lefevre’s prose are lyrical, insightful and heartbreaking. Although coming in at only 112 pages it packs an emotional punch.
Murmurations is one of the best novellas I have read!
*I received a copy from the publisher
Occasionally you will find a gem of a book that will give you cause to stop and think. Murmurations is that book!
I loved this little book of stories and once I had finished I read it all over again. I needed to capture those little details that can be missed in a first reading.
Characters ebb and flow through each story, their lives moving and flowing in formation, unknowingly lead by Erris.
There is the receptionist, Erris’s close friends, the landscaper, the writer, the cleaner, all touched by Erris and her cry for help. The question that runs through the readers mind is; ‘Was Erris mentally unstable or was something more sinister at play here?’
Each story reflects on a significant moment in that character’s life. Moments of revelation and despair, when their life was altered forever.
Carol Lefevre’s prose are lyrical, insightful and heartbreaking. Although coming in at only 112 pages it packs an emotional punch.
Murmurations is one of the best novellas I have read!
*I received a copy from the publisher
May 24, 2020
Reading Murmurations is rather like moving to a new town where you don't know anyone but little by little characters and stories fill out and interconnect and gradually you start to see the bigger picture of shared histories, tragedies and joys. Carol Lefevre skillfully weaves together the stories of different women gradually layering and connecting them and slowly building an emotional resonance which builds to a peak around the unknown fate of one of them. The overall effect is a sense of beautiful regret, of lost opportunities and things that should have been said or done but never were. Like Elizabeth Strout, Lefevre is a master of revealing the extraordinary in everyday lives and unassuming people.
March 23, 2021
Oh, my. This book. Wow. Murmurations (Spinifex Press 2020) by Carol Lefevre is a slim, stunning, literary marvel. A masterclass in characterisation. A beautiful and poetic novella.
If you love Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout then you will adore Murmurations. It’s written in a similar style. Instead of the (very much alive) Olive, the woman at the heart of this story is the (dead) Erris Cleary, and her absence ‘haunts the pages of this exquisite’ story. Every chapter is a self-contained vignette or short story. Sometimes Erris is at the centre, other times she is a peripheral character, referred to tangentially. But the sum of the stories is more than the individual parts. Each adds another layer of meaning, another depth, to the life story of Erris Cleary. The chapters are written from different times, some in the long ago past, some in the recent past, some in the present. Each contributes more to what we know about Erris and her circumstances.
The rather thrilling circumstance is that she is gone. Dead. But was she murdered? Did she take her own life? And what of the rumours of her drinking? Her mental illness? Are they to be believed? Some chapters introduce us to Erris as a younger woman, seen through the lenses of her friends. Some stories recount her death and the effect it has on those who knew her, some well and some only as an acquaintance. Every story gives us more information about Erris throughout her life.
‘Fly far, be free,’ urges Erris to one character. But why has she not done that in her own life? ‘Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice?’ Amongst the seeming normality of these various lives, Erris’ presence – and then her absence – hints at something darker. What is required is ‘the one true note that will crack the silence’.
Murmurations is named for the evocative image of masses of starlings twisting ‘in skeins’ over the sky, ‘lifting and falling in a kind of dance’. What is written in their patterns?
What is the writer’s role in telling this story? How does fiction play out against reality? And what if the two become one? What is the legacy of The Star of Bethlehem and the abandoned babies that grow up within its walls?
I absolutely adore this book. This is literary writing at its most beautiful and most powerful. The characters are each individually engrossing but then they are spun together into a web of community that gradually becomes apparent as the novella progresses. By the time you reach the end, you are flicking back to the beginning to reorientate yourself with those same characters and the dynamics of the relationships between them, trying to see patterns, attempting to see hints of foretelling from the historical stories regarding what you know will come later. Pitch-perfect prose and enough unanswered questions and loose threads to satisfy all those who enjoy a truly sublime reading experience.
If you love Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout then you will adore Murmurations. It’s written in a similar style. Instead of the (very much alive) Olive, the woman at the heart of this story is the (dead) Erris Cleary, and her absence ‘haunts the pages of this exquisite’ story. Every chapter is a self-contained vignette or short story. Sometimes Erris is at the centre, other times she is a peripheral character, referred to tangentially. But the sum of the stories is more than the individual parts. Each adds another layer of meaning, another depth, to the life story of Erris Cleary. The chapters are written from different times, some in the long ago past, some in the recent past, some in the present. Each contributes more to what we know about Erris and her circumstances.
The rather thrilling circumstance is that she is gone. Dead. But was she murdered? Did she take her own life? And what of the rumours of her drinking? Her mental illness? Are they to be believed? Some chapters introduce us to Erris as a younger woman, seen through the lenses of her friends. Some stories recount her death and the effect it has on those who knew her, some well and some only as an acquaintance. Every story gives us more information about Erris throughout her life.
‘Fly far, be free,’ urges Erris to one character. But why has she not done that in her own life? ‘Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice?’ Amongst the seeming normality of these various lives, Erris’ presence – and then her absence – hints at something darker. What is required is ‘the one true note that will crack the silence’.
Murmurations is named for the evocative image of masses of starlings twisting ‘in skeins’ over the sky, ‘lifting and falling in a kind of dance’. What is written in their patterns?
What is the writer’s role in telling this story? How does fiction play out against reality? And what if the two become one? What is the legacy of The Star of Bethlehem and the abandoned babies that grow up within its walls?
I absolutely adore this book. This is literary writing at its most beautiful and most powerful. The characters are each individually engrossing but then they are spun together into a web of community that gradually becomes apparent as the novella progresses. By the time you reach the end, you are flicking back to the beginning to reorientate yourself with those same characters and the dynamics of the relationships between them, trying to see patterns, attempting to see hints of foretelling from the historical stories regarding what you know will come later. Pitch-perfect prose and enough unanswered questions and loose threads to satisfy all those who enjoy a truly sublime reading experience.
March 12, 2020
One word: exquisite.
Yes that's the word I think of when I think of Carol Lefevre's writing.
That and elegant, beautiful, sensitive, but exquisite most of all.
This novella is exquisite.
That's all I will say on the matter.
Yes that's the word I think of when I think of Carol Lefevre's writing.
That and elegant, beautiful, sensitive, but exquisite most of all.
This novella is exquisite.
That's all I will say on the matter.
Read
April 30, 2020In am almost in tears over the second-last and title chapter of Murmurations, reading it for the second time at least, fierce empathy unlooses in me, for two good characters who manage, under strain, to properly see each other. In this strange period of our lives we might feel hope or a deep unease. As the wife of a doctor, perhaps I am susceptible to grief.
A murmuration of humans, mainly women, manoeuvre around each other over time, and in natural and devastating ways, reveal and obscure the details of a tragedy.
I swear that if William Maxwell were still alive, he would commission more of Lefevre’s stylish, cleverly plotted prose, for publication in his beloved New Yorker.
Read this novella in a meditative state; perfect time for it.
A murmuration of humans, mainly women, manoeuvre around each other over time, and in natural and devastating ways, reveal and obscure the details of a tragedy.
I swear that if William Maxwell were still alive, he would commission more of Lefevre’s stylish, cleverly plotted prose, for publication in his beloved New Yorker.
Read this novella in a meditative state; perfect time for it.
August 21, 2020
A series of interconnected short stories, Murmurations is a beautiful exploration of 20th century womanhood. Each of these stories (bar one) is narrated by a different woman with different experiences, expectations, hopes and dreams, told across different decades but within the same social sphere. Some of these stories were exquisitely sad and beautiful and I enjoyed the book immensely overall.
I strongly recommend reading this book.
I strongly recommend reading this book.
July 25, 2022
3.5 stars for interlinking short stories.
April 27, 2021
Murmurations came my way when it was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. It's a delicate, melancholy collection of interlinked stories,—each of which could be read independently, but together they form a cohesive novella about a generation of women whose lives were constrained by the mores of the time and the isolation of urban life. The unusual title refers to connections among the behaviour of starlings which persists no matter how large the group is, but it serves to draw attention to the ways in which urban life diminishes connections between people. In these stories characters have only fleeting connections with each other—sometimes only gossip—and they do not support each other. They don't seem to know how.
For me, it is the paintings which inspired the stories that are more significant. In the author's Acknowledgments at the back of the book, Lefevre says that these original prompts are not necessary, but a quick web search enhanced my appreciation of the deft characterisation and the landscaping of the stories.
The first story, 'After the Island' features a doctor's secretary called Emily, and is a response to Hopper's 1927 painting, 'Automat'. This portrait of a woman alone sets the tone for the collection: her environment is bleak, and she is troubled. It isn't necessary to know this painting to read the story, but it's easy to imagine Emily in this scene, mulling over her dilemma—her unwitting failure to respond to a cry for help.
Automat (1927), by Edward Hopper (*Wikipedia)
If you click through the links to view the paintings that inspired the stories, a pattern emerges. There is tension between the characters, there is resignation and sadness, there is quiet desperation; and there is profound loneliness.
'After the Island' — Automat
'Little Buddhas Everywhere' — Hotel Window
'Evenings All Afternoon' — Stairway (I can't find this one)
'Glory days' — Summer Evening
'The Lives We Lost' — Room in New York
'This Moment is Your Life' — Morning Sun
'Murmuration's — Summer in the City
'Paper Boats' — Women in the Sun
Erris Cleary, the doctor's wife whose death troubles all the characters, haunts the collection. Others who cross her path are not certain whether she was an alcoholic, a madwoman, an embarrassment to her husband or a victim of foul play. Each of them fails to connect, not through malice, but through the exigencies of daily life.
The bleak landscapes seem malevolent:
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/04/28/m...
For me, it is the paintings which inspired the stories that are more significant. In the author's Acknowledgments at the back of the book, Lefevre says that these original prompts are not necessary, but a quick web search enhanced my appreciation of the deft characterisation and the landscaping of the stories.
Murmurations is not set in a specific city, or country, but in the daunting urban landscapes painted by the American artist Edward Hopper. Noted for his reticence and habitual silence, Hopper's flat, saturated colours, his erasing of detail, produced pictures in which absence is as compelling and eloquent as presence. Each of these stories began as a response to one of Hopper's paintings...
The first story, 'After the Island' features a doctor's secretary called Emily, and is a response to Hopper's 1927 painting, 'Automat'. This portrait of a woman alone sets the tone for the collection: her environment is bleak, and she is troubled. It isn't necessary to know this painting to read the story, but it's easy to imagine Emily in this scene, mulling over her dilemma—her unwitting failure to respond to a cry for help.
Automat (1927), by Edward Hopper (*Wikipedia)If you click through the links to view the paintings that inspired the stories, a pattern emerges. There is tension between the characters, there is resignation and sadness, there is quiet desperation; and there is profound loneliness.
'After the Island' — Automat
'Little Buddhas Everywhere' — Hotel Window
'Evenings All Afternoon' — Stairway (I can't find this one)
'Glory days' — Summer Evening
'The Lives We Lost' — Room in New York
'This Moment is Your Life' — Morning Sun
'Murmuration's — Summer in the City
'Paper Boats' — Women in the Sun
Erris Cleary, the doctor's wife whose death troubles all the characters, haunts the collection. Others who cross her path are not certain whether she was an alcoholic, a madwoman, an embarrassment to her husband or a victim of foul play. Each of them fails to connect, not through malice, but through the exigencies of daily life.
The bleak landscapes seem malevolent:
She had hated this place from the start, hated its weather, and the way people talked, hated its ugly houses. and the shapes of the trees; she hated the way locals stuck together, the way they were always reminding you that you didn't belong, that you would never be one of them, however long you stayed; she hated when they banged on about the natural beauty of the place when honestly it was bleak, and much of it rundown, and all of it desperately behind the times. What she dreaded most, she'd said, was being stuck here until she was old, or dying and being buried here, trapped forever in its cold and hostile soil. ('Evening All Afternoon', p.39)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/04/28/m...
May 1, 2021
Another little jewel of a book by an author who deserves to be far more widely celebrated. The book is a collection of eight short stories linked by characters, settings and themes, the interconnecting thread that underlies them all being the mystery surrounding one woman's death (a mystery which is left unanswered). The characters in the stories all belong to the demographic of women who grew up in the sixties and therefore share similar attitudes, concerns and beliefs. Feminist questions are interwoven with their stories but don't predominate.
The collection is based on the concept of ekphrasis (the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device) a device which is inspired and brilliantly executed. Taking the paintings of Edward Hopper who captured the alienation and isolation of characters in an urban landscape, these stories expand those themes with a subtle and elegantly written exploration of connection and disconnection, inclusion and exclusion, swerving patterns of coming together and moving apart, like those of flocks of birds, where the shift of a single trajectory has the power to throw off course many others. Patterns where, as the author says in the Acknowledgements, "absence is as compelling and eloquent as presence".
A book that deserves to be read again and again.
The collection is based on the concept of ekphrasis (the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device) a device which is inspired and brilliantly executed. Taking the paintings of Edward Hopper who captured the alienation and isolation of characters in an urban landscape, these stories expand those themes with a subtle and elegantly written exploration of connection and disconnection, inclusion and exclusion, swerving patterns of coming together and moving apart, like those of flocks of birds, where the shift of a single trajectory has the power to throw off course many others. Patterns where, as the author says in the Acknowledgements, "absence is as compelling and eloquent as presence".
A book that deserves to be read again and again.
September 26, 2020
Murmurations is a beautiful, evocative word, and Carol Lefevre’s latest book, titled Murmurations, does beautiful, thoughtful justice to it. It is though an unusual book. Styled by its author as a novella, it reads on the surface like a collection of short stories, except that the stories are not only connected by the various characters who pop in and out, but by an overarching mystery concerning one of them, Erris Cleary, whose funeral occurs in the first of the eight stories. [...]
Murmurations starts with “After the island”. Here, young doctor’s secretary Emily considers the funeral of her employer’s wife, the 53-year-old Erris Cleary. She remembers some mysterious messages that had occasionally broken through the doctor’s patient note recordings, messages that implied Erris was in danger. The book ends with “Paper Boats”, in which two neighbours, Amanda and Magda, discuss Erris’ death, with Amanda going on to write a short story about it. Erris Cleary, then, is the link that joins the stories. ... For my full review, please check my blog, https://whisperinggums.com/2020/09/25...
Murmurations starts with “After the island”. Here, young doctor’s secretary Emily considers the funeral of her employer’s wife, the 53-year-old Erris Cleary. She remembers some mysterious messages that had occasionally broken through the doctor’s patient note recordings, messages that implied Erris was in danger. The book ends with “Paper Boats”, in which two neighbours, Amanda and Magda, discuss Erris’ death, with Amanda going on to write a short story about it. Erris Cleary, then, is the link that joins the stories. ... For my full review, please check my blog, https://whisperinggums.com/2020/09/25...
September 16, 2020
Carol LeFevre is the most underrated writer I know, unless you talk to her fans, who will tell you she's one of the best writers in Australia. I'm one of those fans, and I think she gets better with each book (though her last book, The Happiness Glass, is stunning). Murmurations is between a novella and novel, a perfect size for this short story cycle of women whose lives are interconnected through another woman's mysterious death. LeFevre writes with a calm precision, making this book a gently tragic and deeply felt one. And how good it is to read from older women's points of view!
February 27, 2021
This beautiful collection of short stories starts quietly but is fascinating right away. You begin to understand the characters in each piece, with all their secrets and fears. As you read, you realise that the stories are linked in delicate ways, and that one person's story may be viewed very differently from the perspective of another character.
These stories are told with nuance and compassion, and each is compelling in its own way.
If you're a fan of intelligent, observant short fiction, Murmurations is for you.
These stories are told with nuance and compassion, and each is compelling in its own way.
If you're a fan of intelligent, observant short fiction, Murmurations is for you.
June 27, 2025
Read in one day.
Intersecting lives and a mystery that simmers behind the scenes.
Bruised relationships, children repeating the same mistakes as their parents, orphans adrift and secrets tightly held.
This is an addictive read.
Initially I thought it was a grouping of short stories, but it is one long narrative with different narrators at the helm. So much so that one has to wrestle to leave each segment.
Definitely worth seeking out.
Intersecting lives and a mystery that simmers behind the scenes.
Bruised relationships, children repeating the same mistakes as their parents, orphans adrift and secrets tightly held.
This is an addictive read.
Initially I thought it was a grouping of short stories, but it is one long narrative with different narrators at the helm. So much so that one has to wrestle to leave each segment.
Definitely worth seeking out.
December 28, 2020
This little gem of a book is one of my favourite reads this year. The interiority of the revolving cast of interconnected characters and the sense of place, landscape and the caprices of seasonal change are deftly written despite the exact location of these stories never being clear. Lefevre writes evocatively about restlessness, homesickness, grief and abandonment.
January 11, 2022
The intertwining of people in this book really was beautifully done, even though I found it a little hard to keep up at the beginning and had to keep turning back to figure out the connections.
I could not put it down though and polished it off on this hot (38c) day in front of the aircon with the dog at my side.
I could not put it down though and polished it off on this hot (38c) day in front of the aircon with the dog at my side.
January 15, 2022
Murmurations is an exquisite book. The 8 short stories are each fascinating, thought-provoking stories on their own, but together, with the intersecting characters and themes, and a story arc that holds it all together, they form a thoroughly satisfying novella. This is a book that will stay in my mind for a long time to come.
October 8, 2024
I generally feel cheated by short stories so tend to avoid them. Carol Lefevre's short tales are such complete scenes in her characters' lives that I've had to set aside my dislike of the genre. Beautiful pieces, like small, polished stones. Very satisfying.
June 27, 2020
So beautiful. So perceptive. So moving.
April 17, 2021
An exquisite collection of interconnected stories about the loneliness of the female experience. Masterful.
June 1, 2021
Haunting and exquisite.
September 4, 2021
A beautifully written novella. Great characters
September 15, 2021
These stories examine character, and were enjoyable to read. I suspect they will be fairly forgettable though.
November 10, 2021
Loved this gentle & beautiful book. My view is consistent with pretty much every other review I've seen on Goodreads - wonderfully written, sensitive, poetic, loving, short. I particularly liked the way Carol Lefevre wove together the various stand-alone chapters to create a vivid picture of Erris Cleary.
January 26, 2022
Elegant, a delightful read
October 15, 2023
4.5 stars
May 25, 2025
An enjoyable short novel of short stories which connected at the final chapter.
April 18, 2021
A series of eight inter-connected stories that revolve, sometimes overtly, often well-hidden, around the character of Erris Cleary. Beautifully written, they have a depth, poignancy and maturity I rarely find in modern short stories. A must read, even if not a fan of the form.
January 2, 2022
This book is a work of art and is written in just over 100 pages. I would highly recommend reading this book over a few days, as not to miss any details. I ended up reading it twice and I’m so glad I did... the characters lives intertwine fluently, making it an easy and enjoyable read, yet below the surface lays a more complex story. Incredibly and thoughtfully written, this book is a creative piece that deserves 5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2022
Gothic feel. The sense of place and sense of time lacked authenticity for me. Presumably set somewhere in UK. But with a Mediterranean climate(?) Tomatoes growing in front yard? Native shrubs , succulents and oranges and lemons? A children's home run in a convent on an island where mothers left their newborns? Which decades is plot taking place in? Nature writing seemed inauthentic, woodcutters cottage with British woodland mosses?
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