“One day, Nisha vanished and turned to gold.”
Working all hours God sends yet still unable to survive, Nisha is forced to leave her mother, baby daughter and Sri Lanka behind when she accepts a job in Cyprus as a maid and nanny through an agency for migrant domestic workers. 9 years later she disappears into thin air.
I love how Nisha is brought to life through the recollections of Petra, her employer and single working mother, and Yiannis, her lover and songbird poacher, in alternating chapters as they question both those close to her and themselves in their quest to find her.
The descriptions of the Cypriot landscape, lime sticks and mist nets, gem mines and street stalls and the diverse neighbourhood in divided Nicosia are sublime.
The soul-wrenching stories within stories of freedom and entrapment, motherhood and love, suffering and loss, what ifs and if onlys are inspired.
The inhumane treatment of migrant domestic workers is an underlying theme throughout the novel and the author’s closing letter emphasises the reality of this widespread discrimination.
Hauntingly sad and beautifully written Songbirds left me with feelings of hope and resolution and … Christine McVie’s Songbird playing in my head. ( )

A powerful, beautifully written novel focussed on the disappearance of a Sri Lankan domestic worker in Cyprus. Written from alternating points of view, we see how her employer and her secret lover react. There's a lot that feels familiar, as I live in Cyprus, and also a lot I knew very little about.

Some of the scenes are disturbing and the conclusion shocking (although I did start to recall a news item I had read a few years back, and it turns out that this book was inspired by that story). Yet the whole is a testament to the love between mothers and children.

I doubt if I'll read it again, but I'm very glad it was the choice of this month's book group.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/11/songbirds-by-christy-lefteri.html ( )

Once again this author has chosen a topic we know or hear little of in the southern hemisphere.
Nisha, a Sri Lankan widow, has no option other than to seek employment as a domestic servant in Cyprus. It means she must leave her beloved daughter in the care of her mother and miss Kumari's childhood years but she wishes to fulfill her dream of sending Kumari to university, to create a better life.
She is fortunate to be placed with another widow, Petra,heavily pregnant with her first child. Nisha forms a strong bond with baby Aliki, as Petra is still grieving for her husband. Petra returns to work full time as an optician to support her household.
Upstairs lives Yiannis, who has lost his bank job, his home and his wife. He survives by illegal poaching of songbirds for the black market. He and Nisha have fallen in love and one day he proposes marriage. He has to reveal to Nisha his means of income, to prove that he can support her and her daughter and mother financially. Nisha is disappointed and asks him to stop. The following day Nisha disappears from their lives. The police are not interested and believe she has left of her own choice. Neither Petra nor Yiannis accept this and together they seek answers to her disappearance.
The book was inspired by the real life disappearance of several domestic workers in Cyprus. These migrants feel invisible as they have no status and often find themselves placed in abusive situations, heavily indebted to their agents.
The author brings to life these women, gives them a voice and tells their story for them. I was planning to search online but the in depth author's notes at the conclusion of the story made this unnecessary. It is a poignant tale which caused this reader to shed a tear.

UpstairsTen years pass and ( )

Beautifully written, atmospheric, sensitive and searching.

Petra, while searching for her missing maid, Nisha, explores the thoughts that she never really knew the woman who ran her household for ten years, and who practically raised Petra's daughter.

Yiannis, Nisha's love, struggles through her disappearance as well, and strives to become a new, better man.

The book also absorbs you into the Cyprus scenery, wildlife, and many beautiful birds.

Was tracking at a solid four stars, but the racism drum just got beat a little too hard. Too many confuse class issues with race. So, down to three we are.

Lovely book, though. Worth a read. ( )

Set in present day Cyprus
This is the story of Nisha a well loved and liked domestic servant from Sri Lanka she is working for a lady called Petra who has a young daughter called Aliki.
Nisha is also having a love affair with Yiannis.
Everything is going well until one day Yiannis tells Nisha that he captures and kills Songbirds. She doesnt like this. Yiannis also proposes to Nishi and is willing to move to Sri Lanka to care for Nisha and her daughter Kumari.
Petra does care for Nisha but really wants her all to herself to cook,clean and bring Aliki up.
One night Nishi goes missing, Petra goes to the local Police who dont do anything. Yiannis thinks his fellow poacher Sereaphim who is very dodgy has something to do with her disapperance.
Eventually it turns out to be a Serial killer hunting Domestic foreign workers as they don't have proper roots and are the Police don't take it when the go missing as serious as if it was a local Woman.

Good easy to read book. ( )