My Five Word TL:DR Review: Emotionally satisfying tale of friendship

The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird is a beautifully told mystery circulating around the lives of two women who are both trying to escape something.

The story is told through three POVs, Beatrice Bird, Anne Iredale and her pre-school age son Benjamin.

Beatrice is the driving force for the story.  During her chapters we cast back and forth and pretty soon discover that since being a small child, and for as long as Beatrice can remember, she has had ‘feelings’, I suppose premonitions really although she doesn’t ‘see’ anything specific, more that she just understands that something may go wrong, or someone is upset, etc.  As she grows into a young woman she moves into the role of therapy, and although her ability sometimes leads her to become too emotionally attached and anxious for her patients her life overall is happy.  She has a partner, a doctor called Mitch and they have a respectful and well rounded and loving relationship.  That is until Beatrice dabbles with drugs and this opens up her ‘gift’ making it much more real.  Beatrice can see shades or forms that are attached to people and this sight eventually leads her to flee her home and seek sanctuary on a small, island where the inhabitants are few and Beatrice spends more of her time in the company of the two cows that were attached to the property she bought.

Anne then enters the scene.  She has run away from an abusive relationship and one in which the husband carried a lot of sway and was forcing her into a sanatorium, leaving their 4/5 year old son Benjamin alone with his father.  Anne was a trophy wife.  With stunning looks and a fantastic figure her husband chose her to look good in front of his friends but has no love for her and no respect for anything she thinks or does.  For a while Anne tries to be happy, her parents are proud of the marriage and wealth that she has achieved and have no time for her grumbling about her husband’s little whims (as they see them).  She has no friends to speak of and is completely isolated.  She eventually runs away and seeks sanctuary within a nunnery, before winding up on the small island where Beatrice now lives.  The two are thrown together, just for one night at first, but from there a tentative friendship begins to grow and although Beatrice can see the same shades attached to Anne, and in fact can see something that seems a lot more threatening, she takes the decision to try and help this young woman.

Finally, we have Benjamin.  Anne’s lovely little boy.  Benjamin has been traumatised by his father and can barely speak in his presence having now developed a stutter.  His storyline is lovely and much as you would imagine a small boy’s pov to be.  This particular pov allows us a view about what’s going on in the background of Anne’s life, an element that we would otherwise lose sight of and I very much appreciated that the author chose Anne’s son (and not her husband) as the third narrator.  Benjamin’s presence brings a lovely innocence to the story.

Now, it may be that you don’t like ghost stories or perhaps you’re worried that this might be too creepy.  For me, this was more about the mystery involved. We get to understand and learn more about Beatrice’s abilities and it soon becomes clear that these are not ghosts that she sees attached to people.  They’re more akin to burdens and unresolved emotional issues that people carry around with them.  However, there is a ghost in the story and this is something that both Beatrice and Benjamin can both see – in quite different ways.  But, this isn’t really scary, this is a ghost with a story and, well, unresolved issues of it’s own.

The writing is lovely and well paced.  The island and cottage in which Beatrice now lives have a lovely cosy feel and in fact in some respects the setting is idyllic – remote and perhaps a little bit lonely – but also peaceful and perfect in many ways for reflection.

The last third becomes quite tense as the action picks up and certain characters try to take desperate action but the author manages to pull everything together in a very satisfactory way.

I really enjoyed this story.  I felt a strong emotional attachment and I loved the way the story develops plus the resolution is really pleasing.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4.5 of 5 stars