Book of the Week: BIRD LIFE by Anna Smaill

Set in Japan, Bird Life, Anna Smaill's second novel, brings two women together, seemingly with little in common, each dealing with grief and uncertainty. Dinah, a young woman in a foreign land, is absorbed by grief; while Yasuko, enigmatic and polished, is striving towards an elusive power. It's a novel of beautiful control, yet uneasy vibrations. In Bird Life we sense the pulse of worlds layered together and the stories that define these worlds. The magical realism hints at Murakami and Allende, while the quotidian observations keep the novel grounded, creating a satisfying fracture to examine the tentative membrane that exists between genius and madness.