Novel spanning 500 years set in MURANO / VENICE
Dual timeline novel set in SUFFOLK
14th July 2023
Vita and the Birds by Polly Crosby, dual timeline novel set in Suffolk.
#audiobook
I listened to this as an audiobook and very much enjoyed the narration by Kristin Atherton, who could convincingly modulate her voice according to character.
At the heart of the novel is a glass edifice – the Cathedral of the Marshes – fancifully containing furniture of faded opulence and exotic plants and birds. It was built in the late 1920s by aristocrat Aubrey Goldsborough, who created it for his intended wife, but who abandoned him – and the building – for another man. Bitterness became a byword for his behaviour, which became increasingly controlling towards his sister, Vita, who lived with him at Goldsborough Hall.
Back in early 20th Century, Vita happened upon local artist, Dodie Blakeney, and the two formed a very firm friendship. In the late 1990s Eve Blakeney, Dodie’s granddaughter, chooses to spend some time at the fisherman’s cottage that served as her grandmother’s home and studio. Within the family it is mooted that the property should be sold but she is loathe to go down that road, severing further attachments to her childhood, and memories of time spent with their mother Angela. It is where the family spent their Summers but an event several years ago left a traumatic mark on Eve, and, now, she is back for the first since that event – with a myriad of mixed feelings.
Eve, herself an artist, is asked to step out of her comfort zone and paint the portrait of an older woman, and during their sessions many unanswered questions evolve about her own family. Can she retrospectively build up a picture of her family over the decades?
This is a novel with a beautiful ethereal quality, that moves comfortably between the two timelines. The varying stories are fleshed out and colourfully told, as birds flutter about within the confines of the finely detailed glass building – which I imagine to be like the tip of The Shard in London. Antique, faded furnishings from around the world add to the dessicated and stagnant feel of the interior, as events unfold against this carefully crafted backdrop.
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Sounds great always been a fan of dual time and time travel stories, my mum went to Suffolk as a girl , part of education degree , studying nature etc… she stayed in Willie Lots cottage….