What a beautiful debut novel. I love reading new authors and this one was so beautifully written, I enjoyed every word and was thoroughly immersed in the characters and settings. This book effortlessly switched between time zones and spun a picture in my mind easily of each. I loved this and have been recommending to everyone.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story is told from the point of view of Robyn as an adult, however, the storyline actually starts in the past when she was a young girl growing up with her brother, Kit, her mother and step-father. We get alternating chapters between past and present as the story builds. Back in the summer of 1977 during a record breaking heat wave, Robyn remembers her mother taking in a neighbor and her young son as her husband was physically violent and she had just been assaulted. The husband is held by the police and the town becomes divided over Robyn’s mother’s involvement in what was considered “a personal matter”. With the heat wave on, it also does not take a lot to escalate tensions. It also appears that Robyn’s mother and step-father are keeping secrets and with Robyn being young, there is a lot that she doesn’t understand due to her age. Years later we learn that Robyn’s mother disappeared that summer and now Robyn and Kit have come home to finally get some answers as to what happened all those summers ago.

I really enjoyed this book – I found it intriguing and it held my attention all the way through. Highly recommend this gem of a book and I look forward to seeing other books in the future from this author.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Set during 1976's heatwave, nine-year-old Robyn and her older brother Kit spend their carefree days with their friends at the local lido and park. One day, the arrival of a mysterious man, in a cowboy hat, intrigues Robyn, but disturbs Kit and their mother, Jemima. As the story progresses, with chapters alternating between 1976 and 1988, when Robyn and Kit return to the village as adults which they fled as children, we find out the truth as Robyn turns investigator to find search for the truth.

Unfortunately, with the alternating chapters being told by a child, I did find the story a little slow and disjointed, and found I didn't have a clue what was going on for half of the story; I felt like maybe I had missed something important and wondered if I should start reading again. The story only sped up for me three-quarters of the way through when everything started happening at once, both in 1976 and 1988. There were also a few too many characters, who I struggled to keep up with.

Despite this, there was a twist at the end which surprised me and had me on the edge of my seat.

I found this book very difficult to get into and stick with. I don't think it's the quality of the writing but, rather, the characters. I felt drawn to no one. As a matter of fact, some annoyed me. It also reminded me of reading A Wrinkle in Time - good writing perhaps, but I just couldn't take the characters so halfway through abandoned the book - as I ended up doing with this one, unfortunately.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Struggled with this book, couldn’t seem to get into the story, or connect with the characters, attempted to persevere and get through it but in the end had to give up.

I had to finish this book to find out what happened but found it hard going as it seemed to be disjointed and didn't seem to flow well. I wanted a bit more information earlier on to know what the mystery was that Robyn was trying to solve and unfortunately the "scary" bits didn't scare me.

This is a beautifully written book. I tried to plough my through it and failed. Unfortunately I did not find it interesting enough and I did not feel that I could engage with any of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It kept me riveted from page 1 to the end. The story goes back and forth from past to present. The characters personalities from children to adults are very well developed. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

A Little Bird Told Me is the debut novel by Marianne Holmes.

It is the summer of 1976, Robyn spends her days swimming and tagging after her brother. It’s the perfect summer until her mum stirs up trouble by bringing home yet another crying woman.

Her actions cause tensions in the town begin to simmer. Everyone is gossiping about her mum, a strange man is following her around, and worst of all, no one will tell Robyn the truth. But secrets will out...

Twelve years later, Robyn returns home, to a house that has stood empty for years and a town that hasn’t moved on, forced to confront the mystery that haunted her that summer.

And atone for the part she played in it.

After finishing A Little Bird Told Me I have complicated feelings about it. It was clearly well-written, and I wanted to love it, but I only liked it. It was readable, I would recommend it, but I probably won’t remember it.

A Little Bird Told Me has a captivating opening paragraph that immediately makes the reader wonder what happened.

“They say I’ll never find her.

Kit says it doesn’t matter because we still have each other but not a day goes by when I don’t long for the truth.”

Robyn feels like she has a certain amount to make up for and like she was at fault for some of what occurred. She knows that there is one person who knows where her mum is, and she knows that by coming back she risks him finding her, but she feels like she has no choice.

“Besides if you were one half evil, wouldn’t you want to know about the other half?”

Her brother Kit feels like it is unnecessary to be in the town, but she feels that they were complicit in what happens, and she has a lot of questions to ask.

There were parts of this book that were really good but my main problem with this book was that I guessed all the major twists before they happened and although it didn’t ruin the book it didn’t make for an exciting read.

Although this was well written I found it difficult to engage with any of the characters and, unfortunately, i ultimately found it a disappointing read.

A story told through 2 timelines. I wasn't certain about this to begin with but gradually became engrossed by the mystery surrounding the 'Cowboy'. I did not guess the twist at the end of the story.

This story is about a brother and sister trying to figure out what happened between their mother and father. The sister, Robyn, provides the narration. Her brother is Christopher and I expected at any point in time for their to be a Winnie the Pooh or AA Milne connection. Nope. The story is told in 2 timelines, 12 years apart. This was the biggest struggle for me because I didn't feel like Robyn had grown any between the two so other than having a different date, nothing else felt different. Additionally, it felt as though the author was so afraid to give too much away too early that most of the plot felt very vague. It is hard to get engaged when you feel purposefully left out. I was glad to read the ending; though once we got there it felt like everything was rushed.

A cross-decade narrative tells the story of Robyn (the titular ‘Little Bird’) and her brother Kit, who as well as navigating adolescence are doing their best to comprehend a rather tumultuous home life.

Like a retro Broadchurch, Marianne Holmes’ debut is an examination of an insular community- nervy, defensive and populated by flawed characters who may not be what they seem. It may not always fully realise the suspense it builds, but ‘A Little Bird Told Me’ is an accomplished novel that deserves praise.

Enjoyed this book from start to the end, a real page turner, hard to put down. Well written with excellent plot.

This is a really compelling thriller about what happened to the main character's mother back in the summer of 1976, and how Robyn played a part in it. It's told through a mixture of present day and flashbacks, and it really captures the feeling of a small town in Britain, and what happens when you don't tell children the truth. The final twist took a bit of re-reading for me to straighten it all out, because it's not explicitly stated, but I didn't love the book any less for it. A great read.

The story was not intriguing or entertaining. The writer has a nice style and the words were nice, it the plot and the unraveling of the story was just boring. I dragged myself through this book for the purpose of trying to give it a fair chance to win me over, but in the end I just felt let down and glad to be finished.

Let me start by saying I think this author has a lovely writing style and knows how to do twists that you don't see coming!

This book is set in Robyn's childhood and later as she looks back to fill in the gaps, but the younger child wasn't very helpful in adding to the developing story of a mother who seems to bend over backwards to help others, while neglecting her own responsibilities.

Robyn and her brother go looking for answers and don't get a warm welcome, and I also found it hard to warm to either of them. However, the ending made up for it! I look forward to seeing what this author writes next.

I just couldn't get into this book, if I'm honest I was bored reading it. I persevered for about 20% then did some skip reading. Checking in every 15% or so I still managed to keep track of the storyline without confusion. Unfortunately not going to be a favourite of mine.

I'm not going to lie, at first I couldn't get away with this. The 'now and then' in the paragraphs confused me at the beginning (whichusyally doesn't happen), and I couldn't keep straight with it. But... after halfway I was hooked!

The Cowboy intrigued me a lot, athough I had guessed who he was. But talking about 'her' all the time, and where she was kept me going, I needed to find out!

This was actually good Story which left me quite happy by the end. I'd recommend it.

The story revolves around Robyn and Kit, brother and sister who have have arrived in a small town during a hot summer with their mother, Robyn is just a child so unaware of her past and like they say, the past keeps coming to haunt them.

The story began with a lovely little passage about how the story was nearly lost, which intrigued me and made me want to read more, I was really looking forward to this book but was left sadly disappointed..

At first I was intrigued with the story line and what was going to happen but easily became bored as it takes far too long to be given any clues or information and by the time you are given anything you have guessed the entire plot and the book ruined! I also really did not take to the character of Robyn.

Disappointing.