The Gravity of Birds

by Tracy Guzeman

How do you find someone who wants to be lost?

Sisters Alice and Natalie were once close, but adolescence has wrenched them apart. Alice loves books and birds in equal measure whilst Natalie, the beautiful one, is sexy and manipulative, effortlessly captivating men.

On their lakeside family holiday, Alice falls under the thrall of the enigmatic next-door-neighbour, a struggling young painter. Natalie seems strangely unmoved by the charismatic stranger in their midst. She tolerates the family sittings for the portrait Thomas is painting with a barely disguised distaste. But as the family portrait nears completion, the family dynamics shift irrevocably. And by the end of the summer, three lives are shattered.

Four decades later, the only thing that remains of that fateful summer is a painting of the sisters. The artist is determined to take the secrets of the girls to the grave, but his close friend decides to use the painting to beat a path to the past before it closes the door on them all for good...

A haunting, unforgettable debut about family, forbidden love and long-buried secrets.

• ISBN10: 1451689764
• ISBN13: 9781451689761
• Publish Date: 6 August 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 294
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lianne]

I won a copy of this book from a contest held on Twitter by @HistoricalFix. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/09/17/review-the-gravity-of-birds/

I thought The Gravity of Birds was interesting and was quite strong at the beginning in presenting the two storylines: that of the Kessler sisters and the arrival of Thomas Bayber in their lives, and the contemporary story with an elderly Thomas seeking out the sisters. It left me wondering what what happened to the Kessler sisters, what was really going on between them as the rift was palpable even at the start, etc. The book was also interesting on touching on themes of art, the drive to create, and art criticism, all of which were pretty strong early in the novel. Core to this novel however is the theme of family and the notion of how strong the bonds of blood are when faced with illness and personal tragedy, disappointment and resentment.

Having said that, the novel sort of ambled in the latter half of the novel. I’m not sure if it was the time that I finished reading the book, but one minor problem I was having throughout the novel was my sense of time within the story. Most chapters indicate the year in which events in the chapter are taking place, either in the past or the present, but a) sometimes the 1960s/1970s events feel like they could take place in the early 20th century, and b) some of the chapters are missing dates when the shift has turned from Alice to Dennis and Stephen. Also, while I don’t mind that the emphasis shifted towards the mystery in the second half with the two storylines merging, it physically felt like the novel moved away from the earlier themes of art and self.

Despite of this, I did enjoy reading The Gravity of Birds. The story of Alice and Natalie and Thomas had me completely enthralled, as well as Dennis and Stephen’s attempts to find out what happened back then. Speaking of which, the Dennis and Stephen dynamic was quite interesting to read at first especially as their road trip started off rather hilariously. But I felt like their respective character stories weren’t as strong as they could be (though Dennis’ personal backstory was much more interesting and fleshed out), probably just because the main story was just too intriging to digress to other characters that weave in and out of the main story. I would recommend The Gravity of Birds to readers of historical fiction.

Rating: 3.5/5