*Spoiler alert - if you've not read this book and you want to, there are some spoilers in the following review.*

I was recommended this book quite a while ago but it was never available at the library till now. The basic plot is of a small child who is stolen from her pram at the age of 3 and then rediscovered ten years later. She has never been taught how to talk but with some intensive training, she quickly gains speech and finally makes her way out into the wide world. It's mostly about how she adapts and learns to live again.

The book starts off in a very confusing way as the story is split between the time just after the child has been snatched and later on once she has grown up and gone out on her own. Once those timelines meet up, the story continues to be divided but this time between different characters. Sometimes the additional viewpoints are a little further back in time and I found it hard to keep track of when things were set. It doesn't help that the main character changes her name and so she starts to be referred to by the new name instead.

I found the writing to be rather stilted at times, and some of the sentences were incredibly contrived. Some of the metaphors were clumsy, although I can appreciate the attempt to continue the theme of birds throughout the story, some of them just didn't work. The characters were difficult to get to grips with, I couldn't understand their motivation or really feel anything for them at all. They all seemed to be really harsh and hard, their lives were difficult and miserable.

The idea of a 'wild child' learning to become civilised again is an intriguing one and while I did find that aspect interesting, I didn't like the way in which it was handled. As if the child hadn't suffered enough with being snatched from her mother in the first place, every turn of her life goes bad in the worst way. It's as if the author was having fun making the character suffer as much as possible but I just found it to be incredibly depressing. Each time I read more of the book, it left me feeling really down, to the point that I didn't really want to read any further because I couldn't take any more of the book making me feel despondent.

A lot of the book seemed to be pushing at the limits of believability. I don't think it helped with not being able to understand why the characters were doing what they were doing. The suicide of the man who snatched Elodie is not explained until nearly 3/4 of the way through and that really could have done to have been much earlier on. Neither is there any reason given as to why Robert decides to frame Elodie for Ingrid's murder when it was a complete accident. Although I could understand why he would want her dead, I couldn't see how he benefited from it being a murder rather than a fatal accident. I also couldn't understand why the two assistants that got fired didn't do anything, either before they were fired, afterwards or when Elodie was being sought for murder. There was just so much about it that didn't make sense and even the ending left me baffled. It's a shame because it really was an interesting concept but the way it turned out just wasn't my kind of thing at all. ( )

Loved it!

I'm really surprised at the critical reviews for this book, I really enjoyed it, right to the last page. Perhaps The Dead of Summer was just too hard an act to follow - I shall certainly be adding it to my reading list.

Little Bird was a little confusing to start with, with two time lines and sets of characters but that soon resolved itself and I was well and truly gripped.
I thought the characters were wonderfully well depicted, even those who were less central. I fell for Kate's love interests, especially Bobby.

The story line revolves around a toddler, snatched from her pram and not heard of for ten years. When she turns up she has no speech but can perfectly immitate the sound of the forest birds.
Intensive tuition results in her gradually learning to speak and as such she is the only "wild child" to learn to do so. She is a fascinating scientific study.
As she grows into adulthood she rejects this identity and with the help of good friends, eventually finds a niche for herself.

I shan't say more for fear of spoilers. This is a great book with an unusual premise and I highly recommend it. ( )

Having read and loved The Dead of Summer by Way I was keen to read this book. Sadly, I was let down a little as it didn’t pack quite the same punch. I feel as though Way needed a firmer editor to really get this story kicking. The storyline was extremely promising and in Way’s hands should have made for a breathtaking read but some of her lines were just too contrived. I won’t say more for fear of spoilers, but some of the tale just doesn’t hang right for me. Sadly, the ending was also a disappointment. Maybe, if I hadn’t have read Way’s first novel I would have been more impressed with this offering. But Dead of Summer was such a fantastic read that I had high expectations for the author’s following book and it didn’t live up to them. Then again, my copy is a proof so there is still time for editing and maybe the final version will be perfected and these little disappointments ironed out.

On the positive side, I did love that the chapters provide a timeline, as I tend to get lost when stories go back and forth in time. Also, the other main characters are all very believable and some are people you could imagine meeting in your corner shop or local pub. Another clever trick was the use of bird similes being slipped into the book – ‘a smile like a bird’s wing brushed her lip’ – being one of them. Then, when a death occurs, the wing of a bird shaped brooch causes it. These are all examples that prove Way is a talented writer but sadly, something went awry with this tale. ( )

It was with excitement that I opened the covers of ‘Little Bird’ having devoured and recommended ‘The Dead of Summer’ to everyone I knew. I wasn’t disappointed with Camilla Way’s second novel. Although not quite packing the same punch as her debut novel, LB has been a thrilling and highly enjoyable read. You do have to suspend some sense of belief at times but then again I was reflecting on cases where people have been held captive for decades without knowing about another life, a life outside of their captivity.

LB is a clever novel, there are twists along the way and you never quite know how Elodie will react. Her character is very bird like and I loved the descriptive passages describing her appearance and reaction to her settings. Each persona Elodie gives to herself is different, and I don’t know which Elodie I liked the most. As a character she had guts and determination but still with a sense of vulnerability.

As I was reading the novel I found myself wondering how she pulled through, how did she become who she was? Could it all be down to the American linguist? It took a while to realise her life with Ingrid, the American was in many ways no different to her life in France but this time it seemed worse somehow, because Elodie had seen a different life. Circumstances then dictate a rapid change in her life and Elodie becomes someone new.

I found the middle section of the novel too long and felt this could’ve been cut short, even by about 20 pages. I know this might have made the writing harder to accomplish but it might have kept the pace going sufficiently enough to have been a five star novel. The plot is the driving force in this novel and it was nice to read a novel where the author has focused on what is to happen and it is at times as if the characters don’t know where they are heading. In fact, the reader doesn’t really know where they are heading, again that is nice to experience. I’m looking forward to sharing this novel with friends, it’s a cracking read and an author I will enjoy reading more by. ( )