‘This place you began, this village with the river wrapping around it and the mountains in view, you are not there now. You have been carried further – to another life, another time.’
As readers, we explore two different times, the present day and an unknown year, in two different countries, Darwin, Australia, and the Himalayas with the main teenage character, Bird. You will explore intergenerational trauma, memories and connections. Bird was a strong individual character with not just confidence but resilience to deal with whatever was thrown at her. You get the feeling she was trying to find her way through her young life, without a strong parental role model to guide her, but what she does find was unlikely guardians who love and protect her. The emotions Bird feels, the reader feels; the frustration she experiences, the reader experiences too. There were dystopic elements within the novel, and if you are not a dystopic fan, persevere, it will make sense as you discover and explore Bird’s history and her past life.
This book is phenomenal – as I was reading I was questioning where Collins was leading us, however, I raced through to the end wanting to know more about Bird and where her story was going to take me. When I finished this novel, I was left with a sense of grief because I had to leave Bird behind.
Bird is an incredibly emotional and moving story, filled with complexities of life and has to be the best book I have read in 2024.
Reviewed by Claire Stanley
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Courtney Collins is an author, screenwriter and producer. Her first novel, The Burial (Allen & Unwin 2012), was published in ten countries and shortlisted for numerous prizes, including the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, NSW Premier’s Literary Award for New Writing and the Stella Prize. The Burial is currently being adapted as a feature film. Courtney holds a Master of Creative Writing and is completing a PhD titled ‘Working Against Whiteness in Creative Literary Production’. She lived in the remote Northern Territory for eight years before relocating to the Mid North Coast. In 2019, she travelled to the Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh, India, to research BIRD. She presents and co-produces @areyoustillworkingpodcast
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