Other Birds

Product Information

The characters in Sarah Addison Allen’s Other Birds are grappling with their pasts. Zoey Hennessey is eighteen years old, an innocent, with a heart open to everyone. Starting college in Charleston soon, she wanted to spend some time at the condo that her mother had left her. Paloma used to bring her here for weekends and getaways. It carries the warmth of those memories. Mom had died when Zoey was a child. Her father did not have anything good to say about her, and her step-monster was not exactly her number one fan.

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen | Book Club Discussion Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen | Book Club Discussion

Lucy: a mysteriously lady in her 50s, living secluded life by never leaving her house and her sister Lizbeth who always resented her, recently passed away, lurking around at the building as vengeful ghost to tell her own story to feel connected and be loved by people! She glanced at the cabdriver to see if he had noticed. The old fig-shaped man was watching her in the rearview mirror, his silver eyebrows raised. Several seconds passed and he continued to stare, which she found disconcerting because she felt his eyes should really be on the long bridge over the water. But he seemed to be waiting for her to respond. Zoey Hennessey finds herself moving from Tulsa to Mallow Island in South Carolina. She'll be there until she starts college. The condo was left to her by her mother, Paloma who died when she was young.Many thanks to St. Martin's Press, Reading Group Gold, and Sarah Addison Allen for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 8.30!** Zoey is immediately mesmerized by the beauty of the island and it’s unusual birds, the Dellawisps! They are beautiful and very vocal turquoise birds. Zoey has traveled with her bird, called simply Pigeon, and is anxious to move into the condo. She loves the beauty of the condo but was hoping to find some signs of her mother, Paloma, there, but she does not.

Other Birds: A Novel - Sarah Addison Allen - Google Books

Sarah Addison Allen uncovers unifying concepts in her host of characters. Their lives stem from the bizarre to the tragic to the unexplainable. And they all circle dance around the deepest desire to be loved and to be accepted in the scheme of things. Other Birds is a gift from this author to see what can't readily be seen and to experience a life without self-imposed limitations. A honey of a read. Whimsical, charming, magical, who can't use a little magic in their lives? A feel good book, one that explores real life problems and features some terrific characters who are trying to work their way through them. The location of Mallow Island, an island off the coast of Georgia, and is noted for their mallow plant, reminded me of St.Simons island a place I love. Just gorgeous.I was immediately absorbed by this story (and only later could the internet finally convince me that this was fiction, not fact) - North Carolina, Mallow Island, home of the original marshmallow, and dellawisps. Birds are throughout the book, stories and theories propounded by knowledgeable characters. Soon, a reader realizes, they are joined by haunts, ghosts, spirits of place and people. Zoey, 18-yrs old and now seeking her inheritance - a condominium left by her deceased mother - finds a community of living and dead to settle her into her new life. Zoey is a reader, and there is a reclusive author it is rumored living amongst them. The path of the book unravels one delicious clue after another, stories within stories. Magical Realism is style of literary fiction and art. It paints a realistic view of the world while also adding magical elements, often blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. Despite including certain magic elements, it is generally considered to be a different genre from fantasy because magical realism uses a substantial amount of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a point about reality, while fantasy stories are often separated from reality. (Wikipedia) With a dash of her signature magic, Allen dishes up a touching story that hits the sweet spot between heartache and healing.

Other Birds: A Novel: Allen, Sarah Addison: 9781250019868

DEBUT NOVEL IS EASY, CHARMING READ". Charlotte Observer. September 9, 2007 . Retrieved 3 November 2013. The story opens with Zoey arriving at a remote tiny island off the coast of South Carolina named Mallow Island. Zoey’s mother, Paloma, owns a condo there secreted in the middle of town where Zoey intends to stay. She came for the summer to attempt to find information about her mother, who died years ago. Zoey brings an empty bird cage which holds her imaginary bird, Pigeon. The condo building is horseshoe-shaped, and maintained by an elderly man named Frasier who is written like Saint Francis because of the turquoise dellawisp birds that follow him.The magical realism and surrealism matched with angsty dramatic stories of the people who find themselves at the Dellawisp sits- a stunning cobblestone building shaped like horseshoe : a place located in Mallow Island/ South Carolina. I was completely blown away with this book. After so many disappointing books, this novel was like a ray of sunshine and I was willing to go wherever it took me. Without revealing anything of this wonderful plot, I will say that everyone there will be forever changed by knowing Zoey. There is a troubled, reclusive author, two estranged sisters who share a secret past, a henna artist on the run from something or someone, an amazing, lonesome chef and eventually a troubled young man who will return home. There are, of course, also a few ghosts because this author is known for her addition of magical realism.