Christy Lefteri is the bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo.
Songbirds is her third book, published in 2021. I’ve had this book for almost a year and I honestly wish I’d read it sooner.
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Plot
When her husband dies and Nisha is unable to support her beloved daughter, she is forced to make the heartbreaking decision to leave her home in Sri Lanka and try to find work in Cyprus.
Her daughter is left behind with Nisha’s mother as she finds a job as a domestic worker. Nisha sends money back home to her family and her only contact with her daughter is through nightly video calls.
Nisha has worked for Petra for nine years. She cooks and cleans and cares for Petra’s daughter. Then one night Nisha vanishes. Petra realises she knows very little about the woman who has lived in her home for almost a decade. She knows nothing of Nisha’s dreams and fears.
Yiannis is Nisha’s secret lover and a man, who despite his flaws, wants to offer Nisha everything she’s dreamed of. He, too, is puzzled by Nisha’s disappearance. Both he and Petra know she would never just up and leave and they both team up to try and uncover the truth about what happened to Nisha.
Songbirds Book Review
I’m firmly in the minority on this, but I have to admit to not loving The Beekeeper of Aleppo. It was well written and such an important read but I didn’t connect to the characters in the way I’d hoped. I’m glad I read it as it really opened my eyes to the suffering and trauma of refugees but I wouldn’t list it as a favourite. I think that’s what took me so long to read Songbirds, I just wasn’t convinced I was going to love it. I could not have been more wrong.
This book was brilliant and I loved everything about it. The beautiful writing, the vivid descriptions of the wildlife, the wonderful characters… it was absolutely brilliant.
I really liked Yiannis and Petra. Both had flaws and their own stories to tell and I found them both to be really realistic characters. I found reading about Nisha from the perspectives of her lover and boss fascinating. We knew her feelings, her insecurities, her worries and details from her past, all without hearing from her directly. I found this really cleverly done by the author. The mystery of what happened to Nisha was handled sensitively whilst still being intriguing.
It’s a really emotive read, one that made me cry for many reasons. It’s a desperately sad story but the author has also filled the pages with so much love and hope. It was so beautifully written and there was one particular quote I highlighted because I loved it so much:
Where there is love, there is a safe place for sadness.
Gorgeous.
The story is more than just a personal one. This isn’t just Nisha’s story. The author has loosely based it on actual events and it highlights the sad truths about foreign domestic workers. It’s an exploration of race and class and how these workers are treated. They leave behind their families, desperate to provide for them and are then treated as though they are invisible. The symbolism and connection between the trapped birds and the lives of the domestic workers was not lost on me. The harder they tried to free themselves, the more trapped they became.
Songbirds is a powerful and thought-provoking tale of loss, hope and redemption, but for me, it was mostly about love. The love between a mother and child and the love between Nisha and Yiannis. Petra and Nisha had both been through so much in their lives but Nisha’s capacity to love was inspiring not just to Petra but also to us as readers.
A brilliant book.
What to read next
If you enjoyed Songbirds, I’d definitely recommend also reading The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri. They’re both my favourite books of hers. You may also want to check out her most popular book, The Beekeeper of Aleppo.
I’d also recommend any Elif Shafak as her beautiful writing style always reminds me of Christy Lefteri. I particuarly enjoyed The Island of Missing Trees and 10 Minutes Seconds in This Strange World.
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I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. For more information please see my disclosure policy.