My thanks to Penguin U.K. Michael Joseph for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Birdcage’ by Eve Chase in exchange for an honest review.

This atmospheric novel is told through two timelines. It moves between the perspectives of Lauren, Kat and Flora, three half-sisters who share a famous artist father and a terrible secret.

In 2019 the sisters are invited by their father, Charlie Finch, to join him at Rock Point, the Cornish cliff house where twenty years before they had sat for their father's most celebrated painting, Girls and Birdcage. They never discuss the events of that summer and yet there is someone in the shadows watching their every move. Someone who remembers the girls in the painting - and what they did.

Eve Chase skilfully utilises the landscape of North Cornwall as well as the architecture and history of Rock Point as an atmospheric backdrop for her family drama. I felt that the narrative was quite restrained allowing the secrets to be revealed gradually in an organic manner though the suspense increased as the story progressed.

‘The Birdcage’ also explored the complex relationships between the sisters as well as how they relate individually to Charlie.

Overall, I found ‘The Birdcage’ a satisfying character-led mystery.

Complex mystery ,full of secrets and lies. Told from multiple viewpoints the story slowly unravels. Set in the beautiful Cornish countryside,three sisters try to work it all out.

Yuppie... my turn for the BLOG TOUR of THE BIRDCAGE by EVE CHASE

Eve Chase’s The Birdcage is a story that sweeps you off your feet, the writing by the author so magical that it transports you to the lazy summers of a house called Rock Point in Cornwall. It is not just the dual timeline story that grabs the reader's attention but sewing together a quilt thru the eyes of the three half-sisters in the present times makes for some gripping reading.

Right away, we are made aware of something terrible that has affected the lives of everyone connected to Rock Point, so much that for, 20 years none of them have managed to step back into the place again. Lauren, Flora, and Kat, the three half-sisters are struggling in their respective lives but are unable to form any sort of sisterly bond or family connection between them. We get to read the perspective of their return thru each of their POVs but the past, specifically the August of 1999 when an eclipse had occurred is narrated thru the eyes of Lauren, the youngest of the trio.

Dysfunctional takes on a new meaning in this family as everyone caters to the famous artist father Charlie Finch and his lifestyle. Eve Chase unveils the complex web at a steady pace as each interaction between the members of the family brings to light the dynamics inside it and the undercurrent of something unsaid lying dormant. The African Grey talking parrot, Bertha is the highlight of the novel and I was in awe with how the parrot and its cage Berthington Palace became a focal point in the story, Lauren’s anxiety connected to the talking parrot and birds in general causes unease in the reader every time Bertha repeats certain things in perfect mimicry with the voice of the speaker.

Eve Chase explores the complicated relationships wonderfully and the face each of the sisters presents to the world and returning to Rock Point is as much a relief as coming to terms with their individuality, reconnecting them to their roots. The characterization of all of them is perfect, flawed, and more grey than white, the careless father, the grandparents trying their best with the children to form a cohesive unit, and Angie, the au pair who becomes a part of their past and present, Gemma and her mother Viv, Pete and Jonah, a whole host of characters that was sketched so beautifully. The sense of place is an advantage as Rock Point on the cliffs, the abandoned huts, the moors, and rocky outcroppings are vividly captured. The mystery element of the story is not hard to guess for seasoned readers and I did surmise the twists right from the beginning though by no means did it spoil the reading experience.

A remarkable journey to Cornwall and to the lives of a family that has to relearn to trust and forgive each other, The Birdcage is a thoroughly engrossing read.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Penguin Michael Joseph, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published on my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India, Book Bub, Medium.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

Ahhh you all know that my heart loves a good dual timeline with multiple POV book, and this one is no exception. Three half-sisters head to their father’s house in Cornwall as he’s planning on making a surprise announcement, unfortunately all of them are dreading it as they have successfully avoided each other for years due to an incident one summer. Unfortunately for them, someone is watching the house, someone that remembers exactly what happened. We get to hear from all girls perspectives as the secret of what happened in the summer of 1999 is finally revealed.

If you want to read a psycho-thriller full of caged secrets and complex familial relationships then look no further. This book is for you. Thanks to the plot and the wonderful writing, you’ll be gripped from page 1 right up until the final word.

Thank you to Michael Joseph for having me on the blog tour for this one, it’s a superb read!

Once famous artist Charlie Finch summons his daughters to his family home in Cornwall to tell them a secret. Flora, Kat and Lauren are actually half-sisters, born to three different mothers within months of each other and haunted by the events that took place in Cornwall on the day of the eclipse twenty years before. Once they return it is clear that someone else remembers the events and wants to know the truth.
Whilst not necessarily to my taste, I can admire the plotting in this tale. The story is the age old plot device of the half-remembered secret tragedy and family mystery but it is saved by the setting and the twists and turns. Multiple narrators help to develop the mystery and little extra drops of information stop the reader becoming jaded. This will have legions of fans

I loved this, as I have every other Eve Chase book. Another beautiful house and location; complex, complicated and often unlikeable characters; and secrets and mysteries abound. I enjoyed the slightly more recent timeframe of this book, I would've been the same sort of age during the eclipse so it was almost nostalgic. The relationship between the sisters was so interesting and intriguing - I was hooked immediately and stayed up far too late each night reading. This would make a stunning TV series with the dramatic landscape and weather. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed Eve Chase's 'The Glass House', so it was great to be back into another family relationship drama read set around a house. This time it's Rock Point. This is an enjoyable read, with a split time frame, where three contrasting half-sisters come together, drawn by their artists father to unlock the past. Bubbling secrets lie rooted into the narrative linked to a night of an eclipse. I love how Chase creates atmosphere in her writing and the setting is almost a living thing for the reader through vivid, sensory descriptions. I'd definitely recommend this book.

I was sent a copy of The Birdcage by Eve Chase to read and review by NetGalley.
Having read The Glass House by the same author and enjoyed it immensely I was really keen to read her latest novel. I was devastated to find that I didn’t enjoy this read very much at all. While the premise of the story was good I found the writing to be rather messy and confusing at times and I really got fed up of the use of the – where a comma would have been more appropriate and easier to follow. I felt that ultimately there were too many characters telling their story, which meant that there was a fair amount of repetition, which is always a bit of a bugbear for me. One of the things that really galled was the apparent lack of research of Cornish ways as it is very well known that the Cornish put the jam on a scone before the cream and in Devon it is cream first. Getting this fact the wrong way round is a seemingly small error (repeated twice in the story) but having lived in Cornwall for 46 years I found it to be very irksome! Perhaps some of the issues I found with this novel were ironed out before going to print but the copy I had held so much promise but just didn’t deliver.

I enjoyed this novel which was a family style drama, thriller with some twists. We’ll written and a great ending I recommend

I loved this tense family mystery.
Three half sisters are returning to Rock Point for a family reunion after being summoned by their father. The last time they were there was 20 years ago when something sinister happened. What happened all those years ago on the night of the solar eclipse to have such an impact on all of their lives?

I was immediately hooked by this book. I loved reading from the perspectives of the three sisters. The story jumps between present day and 1999 (20 years ago.)
Slowly you unravel the events of the night as you become more familiar with each of the sister's dysfunctional lives. I loved finding out more about their relationships, upbringing and the rifts between them.
I actually guessed one of the main twists but there were lots of secrets to reveal along the way and I really loved the dark writing style. I found it such an immersive read and really felt like I was at Rock Point experiencing the remote Cornish lifestyle with them.
I have The Glass House ready to read by Eve Chase and will definitely be reading her other books too!

Three half-sisters, Lauren, Kat, and Flora return to their family home, Rock Point, in Cornwall. They have been summoned by their artist dad, Charlie Finch, who wants to make a big announcement. They left 20 years ago and subsequently are leading very different lives. They re-visit an occurrence that happened around the time of the solar eclipse, reverting to their childhood personas. The story is told in flashbacks between 1999 and 2019.

This story is chock full of secrets, revelations and shocking twists and the characters are colourfully drawn making them vivid in my mind, especially eccentric Charlie. Bertha, an African grey parrot, added further interest and was happy to repeat a secret here and there. The intriguing central mystery provides further enjoyment and I fully appreciated this riveting tale. Highly immersive and well worth a read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Penguin Michael Joseph UK via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

This was a real slow burn, infact it did take quite a while to get going. Much was made of the factured family and uneasy sibling relationship. I enjoyed the ethereal, slightly misty look back on their past.

The sister have been called back to visit their father at Rock Point for the first time in years and it becomes clear that the past has been waiting for them...

half sisters Lauren, Kat and Flora are brought back together to the house they spent summers in. They've all grown up now but have been held back by the past and specifically the events of the eclipse in 1999 but what really happened and how many other secrets are there?

This was an intriguing read. The story jumps from the past to the present. The past mostly being told by Lauren. The plot is a fairly slow burn with each flashback revealing a little more. I had figured out Gemma's part in the story but there were still a few twists and surprises along the way. The ending was well done and finished the story just right. The characters are a mixed bunch with no one standing out to me but they all blend well for the purpose of the story. An interesting story.

Three sisters with the same father but different mothers meet at the request of their father at his home in Cornwall as he has news he wishes to share with them all.

The sisters lead very separate lives avoiding one another but they do share a secret that comes back to taunt them on their precarious return . A family story with a twist.

I’ve read a few books by this author, all have been enjoyable but this was by far the best I’ve read. A captivating read that I just couldn’t put down.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful cover. I was drawn to it immediately. A well-written account of a sister's relationship-with deep secrets. Full of suspense and intrigue. Recommended.

Kat, Flora and Lauren have different mothers but share the same father: famous artist, Charles Finch. Summoned to Rock Point by their father, an unexpected announcement – and the arrival of an individual from the past – threatens to widen the rift that already exists between the sisters as well as bring back unwelcome memories of the dramatic event that occurred two decades earlier. It’s an event that hasn’t been spoken about since but which has lurked beneath the surface as unfinished business between the sisters. ‘It’s the secret they forged here twenty years ago that’s pushed them apart as it’s run through each day of their lives since. In each other they see too much of the worst of themselves.’

In Charles, the author gives us a portrait of a mercurial, rather self-obsessed artist who pours his energy into making art rather than sustaining relationships. ‘He has an ability to detach from his subjects; to see human beings as arrangement of form and flesh in space, volume and light; a technical challenge to be solved.’ His three marriages are not the only evidence of his inability to be faithful but his dedication to art has come at a cost.

In a striking metaphor, the sisters are ‘mismatching dolls, from different sets’. Kat is a high-flying successful entrepreneur (on the surface at least) and Flora is a wife and mother trying hard to live up to the expectations of her husband, Scott. Close to each other in age, Kat and Flora had a close bond when younger. Lauren, on the other hand, has always felt like the outsider right from the first moment she was introduced to her two half-sisters. ‘In the archipelago of the sisters, she’s still an island on her own.’ One other notable character is Bertha the parrot whose often ill-timed mimicry of snippets of overheard conversations proves key to what unfolds. ‘We all knew Bertha didn’t invent things, just repeated them.’

As with all Eve Chase’s books there’s a real sense of place – in this case the wild, expansive coastline of Cornwall. Rock Point’s remote location surrounded by moorland dotted with abandoned cottages and standing stones, contributes to the sense of unease. As Lauren observes, ‘Everything was bigger. Skies. Rooms. Feelings. There was more to go wrong’.

The present day story (2019) alternates between the points of view of the three sisters. Interwoven with this is Lauren’s first person narrative of events in 1999. The author skilfully ramps up the tension through fleeting references and tantalising snippets of detail about events on an August day in 1999. It soon becomes apparent that no-one has the full picture of what took place on the fateful day. It’s only when all the pieces are put together that the sisters – and the reader – find out what actually happened. Like me, you may have an inkling about the direction of some of the story but I’m pretty sure you’ll discover a few surprises.

The Birdcage’s combination of long-buried secrets and exploration of complex family relationships adds up to an intriguing, well-crafted and satisfying mystery.

Huge thanks to the publisher Michael Joseph and to Eve for my advanced digital copy of this new novel. After absolutely loving Eve’s previous novel The Glass House I couldn’t wait to dive into this new book set in Cornwall about 3 sisters with secrets past and present.
The story centres around the relationship between three half sisters, their artistic and loving but self centred womaniser of a father Charlie and their lives, both together as a somewhat dysfunctional family and their lives growing up with very different mothers and how they have all ‘turned out’ as adults because of it.

On the request of Charlie the sisters have travelled back to their childhood summer base of Rock Point in Cornwall, as their father has an announcement to make. It is the first time they have returned to the house after a traumatic event during the solar eclipse of 1999, which we learn about throughout the book via dual timeline stories of then and now.

With wonderful descriptive and evocative writing throughout, the secrets and suppressed emotions of the past start to unravel and its not just the sisters that had something to hide.

The setting of Rock Point, with its outward beauty but ever present hidden dangers and changeable weather and landscape wonderfully matches the story and the bohemian styled house makes a terrific reflection of Charlie and his carefree life style. Plus Bertha the parrot ever looking over the goings on of the summer is a great addition.

An hypnotic tale of three women, still struggling with their upbringing, with twists and mysteries involving a family who’s foundations look ready to shift at any possible moment. I really enjoyed it.

Wow ! What can I say ?
I have loved all of this authors books and always really look forward to them publishing.
This one was the best yet !
I didn’t want to put it down but at the same time I didnt want it to end.
Brilliant
5⭐️‘s

The Birdcage explores the relationship between three step sisters and how each one gets their own fears, insecurities and disappointments into the already complicated mix. It was a great read albeit a bit dark but highly recommended!