Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary

by Laura Stanfill

Georges Blanchard is revered in the small French town of Mireville both as a master serinette maker and for a miraculous incident in his childhood that earned him the title "The Sun-Bringer." As his firstborn son, Henri Blanchard is expected to follow in his footsteps, but Henri would rather learn to make lace than music boxes. When Henri discovers a stash of American letters in his father's drawer, he learns he's not the firstborn son of Georges Blanchard at Henri has an older half-brother born to one of Georges's American customers. When he crosses the ocean to encounter his half-brother at last, Henri discovers that there's an entire world beyond Mireville--and there may be a perfect place for him yet.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, France, Literary Fiction

1 pages, Audio CD

First published April 19, 2022

About the author

Once upon a time, Laura Stanfill lived in a New Jersey house filled with music boxes, street organs, and books. She grew up to become the publisher of Forest Avenue Press. SINGING LESSONS FOR THE STYLISH CANARY (Lanternfish) is her debut novel. Her essays have appeared in Shondaland, The Rumpus, Catapult, The Vincent Brothers Review, Santa Fe Writers Project, and several print anthologies. She believes in indie bookstores and wishes on them like stars from her home in Portland, Oregon, where she resides with her family and Waffles the dog. Learn more at laurastanfill.com.

Reviews

[Jonah Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stanfill’s tale spans generations of a single family of craftsfolk, capturing that eclectic whirr one so often finds in French storytelling. Honest, warm, and heart-shattering all at once; this is the kind of book that makes you happy to be alive. A joyous experience all around!

[Jennifer Haupt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about this book -- from the intriguing title to the well-developed characters, to the page-turning plot with its many twists and turns. This is one of those rare stories that kept me totally engrossed, from page one until "The End." Brava, Laura!!

[Julie Swearingen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a debut! As the third book I’ve read in 2022, Laura Stanfill has set the bar high. Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary boldly embodies the word unique. Stanfill has woven together a generational saga that includes the wonder of music, familial love, small towns, and world travel. I feel almost at a loss to describe how much I enjoyed the characters, the story, and the descriptions. I set myself a goal to read it over a weekend, and it was an easily accomplished task. This is a book you could take on a vacation or curled up with a cup of tea during bad weather. If you try to read it before bed, I warn you might not be able to put it down. I’m so excited to share this book with booksellers and customers alike.
*I was given an advanced reader copy.

[Doug Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely, whimsical, humorous, smart, and fantastical book brightened up my winter reading (lucky enough to read an advanced copy). Take yourself out of this wearisome world and into Laura Stanfill's magic.

[Jan Priddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

four and a half stars, rounded up. I loved some passages, the overall concept, the promise at the beginning, but then... There are tiny things and not-so tiny things that are not magical, but also not quite... ?

Clearly a hoot for most readers and a set-up for a series.

There is the tendency when doing research to want to include everything in the story, instead of allowing some of what is true to simply inform what is necessary to the telling. My impression is that this author put in every scrap.

Yes, canaries can be taught to sing, encouraged to sing, but they are not taught songs as indicated here, and I am fine with that, the ceasing and coming rain... the ability to restore life. That is magic, the you-can't-get-there-from-here details that make fantasy. At the beginning it is sweet and vague and the characters mostly believable, the way Henri's father becomes too much like his own, but then somehow a child is birthed with the umbilical chord around its neck and the mother puts it to breast with that chord still around the neck?—physically, how does that even work? So many non-magical details that just did not fly for me, and then... A blinded eye, a dead baby girl, and murder of the autistic Odil (that one particularly offended me as killing off such characters is such a cheap plot cliché), turned the story dark, and I wondered how this could possibly end. All rushing to conclude. The shift in tone? I don't know, probably necessary for the sequel?

[Dianah (onourpath) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What could be more charming than an entire tiny French village dedicated to the mastercraft of not one, but two, elegant arts? The folks in Mireville, circa 1718, have honed their dual crafts of unusual music boxes and tatted lace, to the standard by which all others are measured.

But not everything is straightforward in this town; there's that matter of the clouds, the secret fort in the woods, and the strange happenings with the animals. Stanfill wrangles her characters with a finesse not often achieved in literary fiction these days, and her town is soaked in magic, quirkiness, whimsy, and delight, even when things are looking very bad, indeed.

Stanfill thoroughly untangles themes of home, meaningful work, friendship, the missteps of parenting, self-esteem, the rat's nest of secrets, and grabbing that one last chance.

Packed with fascinating history, a galloping plot, and characters that will drive you mad while you fall in love with them, Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary will make you cheer, and cry, and make it impossible to find a better book this year. Huzzah, Laura Stanfill! More, please!

[Anna Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I loved this book. A charming, insightful look at human nature and the peculiar quirks, eccentricities, secrets and gifts that make us who we are. Beautiful, sumptuous prose that captured my senses and drew me into a completely different, whimsical place—this is the book I needed to read right now. Highly recommend.

[Veronica Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This unique and charming book was a true pleasure to read. It was engaging throughout, with an excellent balance of deep feeling and whimsy and a vivid cast of characters who often defied expectations. I loved the variety of familial relationships and especially friendships among characters. A wonderful debut!

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is historical fiction, set primarily in rural hilly France at its border with Germany, with excursions to New York, and taking place between 1815 and 1855.

The story is that of Henri Blanchard, born May 3, 1838. But it begins with his grandparents Monsieur and wife Cerine, and on with his parents Georges and Genevieve. The men in Henri's family were in the guild of music-makers who built the serinette -- a type of hand-cranked barrel organ that played 10 songs and was used throughout the world to teach canaries to sing for competitions. The women in Henri's village were lace-makers, and his closest childhood friend was Aimee.

Between the covers of this debut novel is the lovely story of Henri's first 17 years of life, his childhood friendships and battles, his efforts to distinguish himself from and within his family, and the series of events that propel him across the sea to New York. As it turns out: "Canaries didn't need lessons to be stylish; they had it inside them all along."

This is my favorite kind of historical fiction. It transported me to a place and time I have never lived. The writing was wonderful. The characters were my friends and neighbors. I so enjoyed my hours spent with this book.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in love. I'm in love with the story, the characters, the story-telling voice—everything about this delightful book. From the beginning—the Overture—I was enchanted by this magical story of Henri Blanchard, the son of a master craftsman and maker of sirenettes, and his struggles to follow the path that was laid out for him, yet be true to his own desires. Laura Stanfill expertly and beautifully sets the story in time and place (how much I learned about the history of these music-making mechanicals!), with lyrical descriptions and lively language. Each time I (reluctantly) put the book aside for sleep or some other obligation, I missed the characters and being part of their daily lives. While there is no sound track accompanying the story, I swear I could hear the trills and chirps, the singing of the canaries, the songs of the time. I'm so glad I read this book. I'm so grateful to Laura Stanfill for writing it and giving it to us. We need this joy and delight in our lives.

[Lisa Gittleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut novel was a sheer delight. I was absolutely charmed by the atmosphere and lovingly created characters and the stunningly beautiful and precise language. Laura Stanfill's voice is so developed, genuine, and delightful - I loved every page and truly wished it hadn't ended - I'd follow darling Henri through the rest of his life quite happily!

[Amy Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't pinpoint the exact origin of the magic by which Laura Stanfill creates her enchantment of a novel Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary. It might be the delectably detailed knowledge of a little-known instrument's history woven into the plot. It might be the sumptuous descriptions of Old Word France village life in the 1800s. It might be the is-it-or-isn't-it? treatment of superstition and fate. It might be the determination to create a book that is both relentlessly positive and relentlessly real about the human heart. It's probably all of this and more. If you're looking for something to whisk you away--something entirely free of cell phones and instead draped with bobbin lace--this is it.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I picked up Stanfill's novel, I was expecting musical prose--and I got it. I was expecting compelling, fully-realized characters and a cinematic sense of place--and I got those, too. What surprised me (but, upon reflection, shouldn't have) was the escalating suspense that kept me up late, rationalizing: "I'll just finish this next chapter," and, "Well, maybe another one," and, "So I'll be a little tired tomorrow--just one more..."

[Priya · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 *
This was such a lovely read that reflected the history of the period and places it was set in beautifully.

I picked it because I was intrigued by the mention of singing canaries and a musical instrument that taught them songs and the story did full justice to this theme.

Set in the nineteenth century in a French village full of craftspeople mainly making musical instruments and lace, Georges Blanchard, a master craftsman who is the head of the workshop that makes serinettes, is the focus of the story along with his family and son Henri. Serinettes were the instruments used to teach canaries to sing and the village thrives on the demand for these from far away New York.
Henri, George's son, has grown up under the shadow of a special power his father is believed to possess that he himself wants no part of. Trying to gain his father's attention and rueing his own ordinariness, Henri's discovery of a secret in his father's past and a questionable ability in himself turn his life upside down.

The behaviour of the characters is portrayed in keeping with the time and Henri is very endearing as he tries to handle expectations placed on him while wishing to do anything but. His journey is both geographical and emotional in terms of distance. Of the women in the book, Henri's mother and his best friend show more spirit than was considered 'proper' for the time and are interesting people.

How things happened in a small village then and the long reaching consequences of rumours and belief forms a large part of the narrative. The writing is quite absorbing and held my interest throughout. I enjoyed this debut book of the author and am looking forward to reading more by her.

[Gilion Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary is historical fiction set in France and America during the 1800s. Henri Blanchard is the son of a music-box maker who would rather make lace than follow in his father's footsteps. Henri discovers his father had son born before him to one of his father's American customers. When circumstances drive Henri to flee to America, he meets his half-brother and discovers a world beyond his small French village.

Laura Stanfill is the editor and publisher at Forest Avenue Press, a prize-winning independent publisher of literary fiction and memoir. She is a fine essay writer whose work has appeared in
Shondaland, The Rumpus, Catapult, The Vincent Brothers Review, Santa Fe Writers Project, and several print anthologies. This is Stanfill's debut novel.

Singing Lessons is a warmhearted and beguiling story that will capture readers with its gentle charms.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because it was on so many bookseller’s best of 2022 lists. It seemed a sure bet for me, set in rural France with lots of charming details and interesting residents of small village, plus fantastical elements. I think I was picturing something along the lines of Joanne Harris, but more literary.

Things got off too a good start, interesting story, a little adult fairy tale vibe, good writing, but the more I read the less the story held my interest. It started to feel more like a chore than entertainment. Not a total loss, but I could have skipped it.

[Kristin Noreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today I feel a tiny bit bereft. I just finished Laura Stanfill's Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary. I own the book and can return to Mireville, France any time I want, but it will never again be for the first time. Much has been made of the fact that it took Laura 15 years to write her debut novel. I realized somewhere around the middle that that’s because it’s not really a first-pancake of a debut novel, it’s a legitimate magnum opus. This book has all the epic complexity of Les Misérables. I imagine Laura started out with a simpler story, and the layers accreted over time, forcing their own consequences down the line, until the story had morphed into a world of its own and it felt more like she was channeling the characters' voices than writing from her own mind.
Full disclosure—Laura Stanfill is my friend. I was prepared to say good things about the book no matter what, even if it amounted to a pat on the head and “bless your heart, dear.” I did have pretty high expectations going in, because I’ve read many of her essays—emotionally dense personal stories with powerful, quotable sentences (like “The one with the gun controls the narrative.”). I know the quality of the books she publishes through Forest Avenue Press. Still, this book dazzled far beyond anything I expected. It brought to life a beautiful world with rich, full people and plenty of colorful birds. It’s a small, nearly forgotten part of history where master craftspeople practiced the specialized arts of serinette making (a musical instrument with an oddly specific purpose) and bobbin lace making. Magical realism is delivered with a gentle hand, just enough to transport you to a realm where anything is possible, without straining your willing suspension of disbelief.
When you are writing a book like this, you live with one foot in the world of your own creation and one foot in the “real” world with everyone else. I know now where Laura has been ducking out to every time her brain idles; the world that calls to her until she can no longer resist retreating to it.
I have been taken on a wonderful journey. It’s a place I’ll return to, and I’ll see a few new things each time I go back, but just like my favorite bike trip destinations, I can never again discover it for the first time.
If you’ve made it this far and your nose isn’t already buried in Singing Lessons, I have to ask, what’s wrong with you? GO! To your local independent bookstore, please. If they don’t have it, ask them to order it. That’s how smaller-press books work their way out into bookstore windows in faraway cities. This book deserves to be seen.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a miss for me.

It begins at somewhat of a remove by introducing the small village in France where a new, odd instrument is invented to teach canaries to sing, dubbed the serinette. The hero’s father is the focus of this introduction, as the focus moves in a bit closer to talk about his parents, their living situation, etc. When the focus finally “zooms in” on the hero, Henri, it still feels removed enough that I found it difficult to connect with him.

There were several magical elements that didn’t mesh with the real world. At first it was ambiguous, like magical realism, which worked because it was plausible that things happened by coincidence and were given a lot of moment, or they could have been magic caused by the hero. But then the things happening got more and more outlandish, and I guess it wasn’t handled very well because it was hard for me to suspend belief and swallow it.

There were a few threads later in the book that were downright impossible to believe because they were so unusual for the period as to be unheard of. The romance was stilted and weird, and I didn’t care.

The writing wasn’t bad, and the author chose an interesting place and industry to focus on. But her characters were odd and the story took so many strange turns it didn’t feel like a cohesive whole. Overall just not my cup of tea.

[Laura Weldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Spoiler alert]

I loved so much about this novel, from the obscure history of canary training to the Shadow Council of Apprentice Lacemakers. This was a solid five star book for me until the last eight pages or so, when the plotting and writing quality took an abrupt downturn. It seemed as if someone else hurried to finish the task, letting the original writer do little more than add the final two paragraphs. The deftly written Henri and Aimee suddenly speak in stilted lines and disregard previous motivations, such as her insistence on ensuring her sisters are looked after. Embedded plot hints are left dangling. For example, it’s mentioned that the half-brother composer Robert has been criticized as stuffy, since his contemporaries “charm the common man” with “sound effects” and “odd instruments” yet no hint Robert might include some instruments from his mother's storage room of never-to-be-used serinettes in his upcoming premiere at the NY Philharmonic. These are not serious quibbles. I still deeply enjoyed this charming and unique novel.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to mull on this one a bit before reviewing because I felt like there were a lot of unfinished threads to this story. I think I'd probably honestly give it a 3.5 if Goodreads had that option here because of that, but I did love the sweetness of the story, as well as the parallels drawn between the songs of the canaries and the voices of the humans in the book. Although the author takes a moment to get there, the majority of the story is about Henri, a sweet boy who is raised in the shadow of his father Georges in the French village of Mireville, where Georges is known as the Sunbringer. Though he tries to find his niche, Henri is also fascinated by the women around him, always listening to their stories. All of this is also told during a time when women trained male canaries - or the cocks - to sing using serinettes - made by Henri's father - and entered them in competitions. Again, a lovely little story, but I would have loved it if a few more of the loose threads had been tied up a little better.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t believe this book is so highly rated. For the first third, I found it hard to get engaged. I kept thinking I would put it down, but kept reading. Then I started to love it. Once we finally got into Henri’s story the novel really picked up….but then there’s the ending. With main plot points seemingly forgotten or dropped this end seemed like a preparation for a sequel. I was heading for four stars until the last pages. It was a one star ending.

[Gail Jeidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 I read this book twice.

Generations come to life in this tale layered with beautiful language and wit from page one. I appreciated the invented verbs, the adjectives and nouns given active roles. Sexual undertone and metaphor are cleverly infused and add to the fun.
Some phrases are so visceral, you carry them from this day forward in your body (especially if you are a woman), like this one describing how the first main female character, Cerine, feels after childbirth: “as saddle worn as if she had ridden a cabbage down a waterfall.”
And then there’s weather as a character, but not in the Victorian sense. When Cerine has a moment of sexual awareness and the weather in the French village of Mireville shifts from rain to sun -- the whole sky literally cracks open -- who takes credit for the shift? Her husband whose seed beget the son who brought out the sun and changed the world.
I chuckled at jabs at the patriarchy and the threads of feminism throughout, females facing suppression from the men in their lives before owning their voice and choosing action. Others are proactive from the get-go and taking what they want.
Cerine is the former; her cries during childbirth upset her husband (and so she apologizes to him) followed by her colicky baby boy who won’t stop fussing for months. It is not until Cerene raises her voice that he stops. Later, Cerene and her daughter-in-law Genevieve, use cunning and clever, but never mean, ways to get the upper hand over the man in the house. I love how the writer injects an in-your-face object: Cerene embroiders a pillow with the words “Don’t tell Georges.”
Without going into detail or plot spoilers, here’s my interpretation of one possible metaphor of the book: As a writer who has not yet placed a long work, I was struck by how it feels to spend your life dutifully putting words on the page, putting in the long hours for years, tossing it repeatedly out into the greater world of publishing, and the work never quite coming to fruition, at least not in the way you think you want!
Entertain the writer, entertain the reader. Stanfill clearly enjoyed writing this book and readers benefit.
The lead character is a man and yet I focused on women in these notes. (Hmmmm.)
P.S. – the cover is the prettiest cover ever.

[Karen Eisenbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for historical fiction with a touch of magic and a cast of warmhearted oddballs, you’ve come to the right place. It reminded me of The Night Circus in its intricate, beautiful language and precise historical details. It reads like a fairy tale in which the historically factual elements are the most fairy-talesque. American canaries taught to sing popular songs for contests through the use of special hand-crafted French barrel organs called serinettes? Yes, that really happened.

Young Henri Blanchard is the main character, but the heroes of the story are the women of his family and community, quietly subverting the patriarchy while appearing to keep to their restricted gender and class roles. Gentle, anxious Henri, not knowing how to be like other boys, falls into lifelong friendship with Aimee, a smart, adventurous girl whom his family would never allow him to marry because her father is not a music maker. Meanwhile, across the sea, independent, wealthy Delia Dumphries Stanton places regular orders for Henri’s father’s serinettes and has a secret that will turn Henri’s world upside down.

It was a treat to read this warmhearted story with its ordinary heartbreaks and gentle humor. It was refreshing to see oddball Henri and clearly autistic Odil not mistreated but accepted and befriended by Aimee and the other girls, who had more power than the boys would admit. A pair of half-brothers who you might expect to be in conflict when they meet for the first time can’t help liking each other and teaming up. And it was a pleasure to read sentences like: “A whapping blur of wings frothed the sour, musty air.” This was a lovely, hopeful, encouraging read.

[Marigold · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story for people who like stories! It somehow feels like someone is reading it to you, even though you're reading it yourself - a lovely writerly touch that Laura Stanfill has achieved here. This novel transports you within its own times and places - late 18th and early 19th century France and New York - and, back to the magic, warmth, edge of seat adventure, and hope of childhood reading experiences. It's very easy to visualize the French village of Mireville and then Henri's journey to New York, and the opulent if somewhat run down home of Delia Dumphries Stanton, giving the book a cinematic feel.

I'm not typically a fan of magical realism and this novel uses it with such a light touch that it's a pleasure to just flow with it.

The story starts with Georges Blanchard of Mireville, France, a well known maker of serinettes - musical instruments similar to barrel organs, but lighter and more ethereal, that were often used by middle class or wealthy and idle Victorian ladies to teach canaries how to sing tunes! But the real hero of the story is Georges' son Henri, who is expected to carry on the family business but who really wants to make bobbin lace like his best friend Aimee, and to find his own special purpose in the world. Henri is aware that his father is never entirely satisfied with him - and later finds out why; his discovery of his father's secret is part of what sends him on a journey from his French village to New York City and the home of Delia Dumphries Stanton - but only after events in his village lead him to being charged with - murder!

Henri's journey from frightened little boy to adventurous young man who's ready to take care of himself and care for others, will warm your heart. Nowadays we all need stories that carry us somewhere else and point us toward resilience and hope, and this is one of those stories.

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d really prefer to rate this one a 3.5.

I’m generally not a fan of novels beginning with the assertion that to understand the story fully, we must begin two generations before the main character arrives—but Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary won me over in the end. The main character is Henri, the son of an instrument maker, who, in his small, mid-nineteenth-century French village, is set apart for various reasons, two of which include his comfort hanging out with girls—particularly his best friend Aimée—and that he may be able to restore life to the dead. The novel casts a wide scope, looking at family dynamics, small-town life, friendship, love, and how small events—such as a whining child or an ill-timed faint—can change the trajectory of more than one person’s life.

Favorite Quotation: “He’s reading your heart,” she said. “It’s supposed to be uncomfortable.”

[Gemma Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura’s Stanfill’s gorgeous writing takes us on a journey that is both whimsical and grounded in history and reality. Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary is a magic carpet of a book, and the author writes with a unique and compelling voice. We travel with her finely wrought characters from a marvelous French village in the 18th century to the New World, as they follow their dreams and desires. Each sentence is as artful as the music boxes in the story, and the entire novel brims with joy and sorrow and beauty and leads to truth and redemption.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely storytelling with a folktale flair. Set in the 1800s in Europe. A generational family story sprinkled with merriment and sadness. Georges is believed to have made the sun shine as a baby. So his son is brought up with that burden/gift. They are a village of lacemakers and music makers. Georges son grows to a young man with many challenges and victories along the way. Cute story. Lovely imagination!

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 but I rounded up.
It’s a charming story. Not sure there will be much to discuss in the book club, maybe some of the magical realism.

I felt like the ending or the part after Henri and Aimee arrive in America is the weakest part of the book.
I did love imagining the crystal avairy and teaching canieries to sing was pretty great

I don’t think I realized the author 2as from Portland until the end.

[Krenner1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sweet story with a touch of fairy tale in it. And I learned about a serinette which was an old French instrument designed to teach canaries to sing. The son of a serinette artisan was so colicky that its loud cries broke the heavy clouds and brought the sun and drought. Such suspicions follow the lad thru his life in the village and eventually across the seas into New York City. Very clever story. This might be a YA book.

[Trace Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of hearing Laura Stanfill speak at a conference about her experience of writing Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary. She brought a working serinette that played chirpy, haunting tunes through thin pipes. Although music grounds this tale of love, the characters are what makes the Stylish Canary take wing.