Hello, friends!
Night Bird Calling is the story of Lilliana Swope, a woman who, upon the death of her beloved mother, flees from her husband and father, to live with her beloved Aunt Hyacinth. Set in Appalachia, 1941, this story follows the town of No Creek as they hear rumblings of conflict that will eventually turn into WW2.
For me, this book got off to a bit of a slow start. I was not sure if I’d enjoy it, but as I got further into it, I became thoroughly engrossed. I will make a note that this book has many serious topics that may be challenging for people to read about. I did not know the extent of this going into the book, so if there are subjects that you are sensitive to, I would recommend looking into that before reading. Despite the difficult subject matter, this book was able to create an atmosphere where the town felt real and you wanted to get to know the people there (some of them…)
The story is told from the point of view of Lilliana Swope, and Celia Percy, a precocious little girl who always means well, but can get in trouble for it sometimes. I am not always the biggest fan of books that are told from multiple points of view, but I really enjoyed it in this book. I was interested to get into both of their heads, and enjoyed hearing from them equally. Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books, and Celia’s portions were reminiscent of that story, which was a plus for me.
This book was able to be both incredibly tense mixed with moments of lightheartedness where you couldn’t help but smile for the characters. They all went through SO much throughout the story, that when they had a moment of peace or joy, it became totally palpable. Oftentimes I wanted to hop right into the pages and befriend Lilliana and Celia’s mother, Gladys. The characters all felt very real to me, and with that, they all had their own flaws. Some of which were far more grave than the others.
I gave the book a 4/5 star rating. It’s very well-written and tackles some serious subject matters, so it’s certainly not a light read, but it is one that I would read again. There are some portions of the book that feel a little heavy-handed, but certainly nothing that makes it feel unreadable. As a child, I DEVOURED historical fiction books, and Night bird Calling has reignited that spark. She also has a book that uses the Titanic as a plot device called, Promise Me This, which I am VERY intrigued by.
Have you read any good books thus far? I am always looking for suggestions!
Xoxo,
Mattie Mae
Midwest Mattie 