When Oliver Mittell unexpectedly quits his job in the City, he offers to organise the renovation of a house in Oxford that his girlfriend, Kate, has recently inherited from an elderly, estranged relative. The house, Oliver soon realises, is the repository of family secrets stretching back generations and his discovery of a diary from the 1920s compels him to unearth the truth about the home’s former inhabitants.
McCarthy evokes period detail beautifully, not least the claustrophobic marriage of an intelligent, post-Edwardian woman shackled to a husband brutalised by PTSD in the aftermath of the first world war. The novel is deftly constructed, McCarthy creating an enthralling, labyrinthine narrative about the fluid nature of history and the way different generations choose to interpret it. Sumptuous and satisfying, The House of Birds is about the ramifications for those who defy convention and the lifelong quest for social and intellectual freedom.
The House of Birds is published by Tinder Press (£18.99). Click here to order a copy for £15.57
