Review of The Aviculturist
Posted: 19 Sep 2021, 19:20
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Aviculturist" by Ann Smythe.]
Lilly Sanders’ entire life changed on the stormy night of her sister’s sixth birthday when an accident claimed the life of both her sister Alice and her father. Moving from Lostmor to Bristol after the event with her mother, they tried to move on until her mother’s death 24 years later. That’s when she learns she is now the sole owner of the vast estate and home I which she once lived, as well as the employer of Joe, the kindly groundskeeper she knew in her youth. Will she be able to face the ghosts of her past? And will she be able to finally remember what truly happened that stormy night?
The Aviculturist by: Ann Smythe is a very compelling mystery full of rich characters whose lives intertwine in surprising ways. It is set in a lush seaside English town full of all of the quirky inhabitants you would expect but it is nicely balanced by the true emotional depth shown by the various narrators. It is a story which shows how you truly build a family through choice and love rather than blood and name. It also shows how you never know how a chance encounter with a stranger can come to be crucially important and how our paths cross in unexpected ways. The Aviculturist is an engrossing, satisfying read.
An Aviculturist is a person who breeds and keeps birds. This is an example of one of the things that gave me pause while reading this book. For the most part the narrative flowed very nicely but every once and a while the author liked to throw in a “word of the day calendar” type moment and for me that interrupted my reading to have to stop and pull out my dictionary to fully understand. This is not exactly a negative as I learned quite a bit but as this is a fast paced story I didn’t like having interruptions in that.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. This book had a little bit of everything, romance, family, humor, science and of course mystery. I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It truly was a very satisfying read and at the end of the book there was a blurb promising a sequel which I am very eagerly anticipating!
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller as well as anyone who enjoys a more cozy mystery. Anyone who enjoys navigating the twists and turns of an English procedural drama would also truly love this story.
******
The Aviculturist
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
Lilly Sanders’ entire life changed on the stormy night of her sister’s sixth birthday when an accident claimed the life of both her sister Alice and her father. Moving from Lostmor to Bristol after the event with her mother, they tried to move on until her mother’s death 24 years later. That’s when she learns she is now the sole owner of the vast estate and home I which she once lived, as well as the employer of Joe, the kindly groundskeeper she knew in her youth. Will she be able to face the ghosts of her past? And will she be able to finally remember what truly happened that stormy night?
The Aviculturist by: Ann Smythe is a very compelling mystery full of rich characters whose lives intertwine in surprising ways. It is set in a lush seaside English town full of all of the quirky inhabitants you would expect but it is nicely balanced by the true emotional depth shown by the various narrators. It is a story which shows how you truly build a family through choice and love rather than blood and name. It also shows how you never know how a chance encounter with a stranger can come to be crucially important and how our paths cross in unexpected ways. The Aviculturist is an engrossing, satisfying read.
An Aviculturist is a person who breeds and keeps birds. This is an example of one of the things that gave me pause while reading this book. For the most part the narrative flowed very nicely but every once and a while the author liked to throw in a “word of the day calendar” type moment and for me that interrupted my reading to have to stop and pull out my dictionary to fully understand. This is not exactly a negative as I learned quite a bit but as this is a fast paced story I didn’t like having interruptions in that.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. This book had a little bit of everything, romance, family, humor, science and of course mystery. I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It truly was a very satisfying read and at the end of the book there was a blurb promising a sequel which I am very eagerly anticipating!
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller as well as anyone who enjoys a more cozy mystery. Anyone who enjoys navigating the twists and turns of an English procedural drama would also truly love this story.
******
The Aviculturist
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords