The dramatic and enticing synopsis drew me towards this book as well as my utter adoration of The Glass House by the same author. In a similar vein, this is also a duel timeline, gothic mystery novel with grown up half-sisters returning 20 years after their last visit to a Rock House, the family home of their shared father who is an artist.
Rock House is depicted as a beautifully grand home nestled amongst the elements with the Cornish coast on its doorstep as well as the Moors beyond. I instantly felt like I was there exploring the house, eager to prize open the drawers and toy chests to reveal their secrets myself. The quirky, dysfunctional and secretive nature of both the set up and family within the house was constantly compelling reading.
I found I was constantly swaying between which characters I felt a connection with and who I was suspicious or even disliking of; ultimately there's the beauty of the book, how it reveals slowly the complexities of human relationships, appearances and our flaws & mistakes.
There's such a palpable sense of late-90's nostalgia in the memories of the girls from 1999, the summer of the solar eclipse; the intensity of childhood friendships and the sense of neverending summers of discover and misadventures felt so relatable. I think this is yet another book of Eve Chase's that I'll be remembering and recommending for some time to come.

On Boxing Day 2019 the well known artist, Charlie Finch, sends -mails to his three daughters (by three different wives) summoning them to his cliff top home, Rock Point, in Cornwall. It would be the first time that the three half sisters have all been together at the house since the year of the total eclipse of the sun - 1999, and Kit, Flora and Lauren, are all confused and somewhat concerned as to why their presence has been requested. The girls have all led very separate lives, but share a dreadful secret that is never referred to. None of them feels comfortable at Rock Point and think that they are being watched, followed or even threatened when they find notes saying “Leave” or “Go Home”.

During their stay twenty years ago their father decided to paint his daughters and intended to entitle his picture “Girls and Birdcage”. They have never seen the painting and have no idea where it is.. They also suspect that there is an even bigger secret about which they have never been told as their Grandmother died before she could spill the beans. Will they every find the painting and will they every learn the truth - only time will tell.

Rather lovely, and very satisfying.
Families and their histories are complicated; and this one more than most.

A well written story about 3 half sisters, same father different mothers. Lauren, Kat and Flora have been invited by their father Charlie, an artist, to go and spend time with him at Rock Point in Cornwall, as he has an announcement to make to them. As well as the announcement there is a secret kept between them, that happened in 1999, 20 years earlier, and the scenes are set between these two timelines.
Complicated relationships emerge, with twists and turns to keep the interest going. I guessed the outcome to some extent, but really enjoyed the book. Thanks for the opportunity to read this book and review it.

A very complex tale of three half sisters with a complicated past - due mostly to their artist father. The story flips between present day and the summer of 1999 with the solar eclipse being a big turning point in their lives. I didn't guess the event and thought it was very well written. A slow burner but a good read.

Three women in their mid-thirties travel to the Cornwall house in which they spent their childhood summers. Close together in age, they share a father - a famous artist and equally famous womaniser - but different mothers, and have taken very different paths in life. It soon becomes clear that all three are damaged in different ways by unspecified but momentous events of a summer twenty years ago - and this is the first time they have returned to the house since that time. More worryingly, it seems the family aren't the only people who remember what happened - anonymous, threatening notes are delivered and a stranger is seen watching the house. Who is responsible and what do they want?

That's the basic premise of the book, with the chief source of narrative drive coming from the mystery of exactly what did happen. Like many books where a mysterious past event is constantly hinted at without being explained, it can feel a bit frustrating, especially at the beginning. But Chase manages the pace well and its undeniable that it also makes it extremely compelling. I really, really wanted to know what happened and was prepared to keep reading into the night to find out.

The three sisters who are the viewpoint characters are all sympathetic and interesting characters. One of them - Lauren - cannot remember precisely what happened, and in that sense she represents the puzzled reader, as she tries to piece together events. The ongoing unspecified external threat in the present also helps to keep the story moving without being unbelievably melodramatic. It is a thriller, but unlike a lot of thrillers, is actually plausible. It's also genuinely moving, as I cared about the characters. It's not a book that tries to have a 'message' - everything is presented factually - but it does still make you think about family and the complexities of growing up with half and step siblings.

I found the story really enjoyable and compelling and would highly recommend to readers who enjoy thrillers or family stories, or fiction in general. It has more depth than the average psychological thriller, and more tension than the average family saga, elevating it to a higher level than most standard fare in either genre. Certainly I'll be keen to read more by the author in future.

This another beautifully written book by Eve Chase full of the poetic prose she is known for. It’s a slow start to the story and is narrated by the three half sisters and also uses different timelines that allows the story to build little by little as the book progresses.
I have to say my favourite character from the book was Bertha the parrot who was just that a character throughout!
I enjoyed the book immensely but it wasn’t my favourite from the author I don’t know why really perhaps it was the slowness of the pace but I look forward to more books to come in the future.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Although I did overall enjoy this book I did struggle with it a little. I kept losing interest in certain chapters, I felt the pace was a little slow. I struggled to take to any of the characters at all, I also found the ending a little predictable. That being said it would not put me off trying another by this author.

set along the rugged cornish coast, a father an artist has called his three daughters home.
When they arrive someone is watching them, someone knows the secret they have kept for twenty years and they no longer want that secret kept.

Wow, what a story! I had read one of Eve Chase’s previous books, ‘The Glass House’ and absolutely loved it, so was really excited to read this one. It did not disappoint. Three adult sisters, all with their own troubles, reunite for a weekend at their artist father’s home in Cornwall, with the intention of dividing up their late grandmother’s belongings. Of course, things are more complicated and the past starts to creep up on them.

This book totally absorbs you in a series of flashbacks, unsettling events surrounding the 1999 Solar Eclipse. I could feel the tension and the mysterious, ghostly atmosphere. What really happened that day?

I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I’ll keep it brief, but the story unveils a complex and unexpected web of secrets.

If you’re a fan of mysterious family dramas, with plenty of twists and turns, this one is for you. The writing was excellent, the characters were believable and the pacing was just right for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for giving me the chance to review this ARC copy. Definitely add this to your TBR for when it comes out!

I so enjoyed this book. The story is in parts extremely sad and touching but starts with what feels like Rites of Passage for all three girls, brought together in their childhood home. They all have demons from growing up and the happenings in this place. As I read, I had feelings of a darkness, an apprehension of some secret not yet revealed. All of the characters have their own stories to tell and as the book goes on, they are inextricably woven together. The ending is tinged with a sadness but there’s also hope as well. Do treat yourself and read this very atmospheric story.

There's a punchy energy to ‘The Birdcage’ that grabs you right away:

‘the cat-paw-quick movement of her father's sketching hand’

The dramatic engagement is immediate, and I really enjoyed the thrill of that.

Chase handles split narrative and dual timelines adroitly. Once you have each of the three half-sisters firmly set (name, appearance, family background), it is a pleasure to knit together the separate strands of action in your imagination, as the two plots (1999 and 2019) unfold for each sibling. In fact, it's what makes the novel so addictive, and the technique keeps the book fairly clipping along.

Flora is riveting to read, Kat brisk, but it’s Lauren who will have most readers emotionally engaged:

‘Lauren manages a trembling, transformative smile. She’s got one of those plush French-movie mouths with a slight overbite that can only be carried off by someone gamine, with psychological complexities. […] The sweet quirkiness that Lauren’s always worn, like a floaty blouse, now seems to be constructed from a denser, heavier fabric.’

In fact, each character, even those on the peripheries, are remarkably convincing and observed with fine attention to detail. The family, and Angie, in particular, fairly leap off the page in full technicolour:

‘The Campari-red plume of hair. The triumphant smile on that slack, sensual mouth. The starburst of lines around those blown-out mad-green eyes.’

Perhaps this is because the reader gets multiple views of each character (Kat’s character portrayal is painted by both Flora and Lauren; Lauren's is coloured by Kat and Flora, et. cetera):

‘Clearly out there, in the world, Kat matters. Before this trip, Flora hadn’t realized quite how much. And it kindles a confusing conflict of pride and jealousy, even though she’d rather die than admit either sentiment to Kat. Pouring a glass of water […] she vaguely wonders how it is that her own life has got smaller and smaller while Kat’s has expanded globally, hot and light, like some sort of astonishing gas.’

This speaks volumes for how deftly the author has balanced the three viewpoints within the split narrative. This stands, also, as testament to how successfully the dual timeline is juggled. The novel - not only despite, but positively thanks to - its complexities of structuring, is a truly fluid thing and so pleasing to read.

Eve Chase's writing is really zesty:

‘Kat sucks in her breath, Cornwall’s rapid approach registering as one tiny shock, then another, until it’s like dozens of acupuncture needles bristling on her scalp.’

Chase’s use of inventive simile makes her work particularly energetic to read:

‘the sea’s thunderous boom – like hundreds of whales thrashing their tails at the same time’

‘The surrounding fields have a tremulous sheen, like the silky flank of a panting black horse.’

Luxurious passages of description, coloured by the attitudes and memories of the sibling with control of the viewpoint, pepper the action-driven and dialogue-rich plot, and are delicious to read:

‘Dad’s proper studio was an old button factory in London’s East End. […] But at Rock Point he “mucked around” and I’d seized the role of helper, mixing things, washing brushes, organizing. […] Unlike my sisters, I’d learned its language: scumble and saturation; fat over lean; filbert and fresco; top-tone and tooth; gesso and ground. The stories sat in the fat metal tubes of paint. Bone Black was made of charred animal bones. Cobalt gave you cancer. Lead White sent you curly whirly cuckoo. Vincent Van Gogh sucked his paintbrushes and chopped off his ear: Dad would demonstrate this, taking a palette knife to his own, pretending to saw, making us all giggle.’

Another effective contrivance is the parrot, Bertha, who mimics spoken phrases in the speaker’s own voice. This mechanism allows the characters to hear, after the fact, what’s been said by others (often aboutbthem) in the household. This potent little device works wonderfully to create tension and intrigue, at the same time undermining the girls’ inner monologues and unsettling the reader. It also functions, in the most satisfying way, to loop everything round in the denouement.

And the funny thing is, usually a constant prefiguring or foreshadowing of ‘the thing’ that the reader doesn’t know – the event to be revealed as the crux of it all – would grate with me. But it’s not tiresome at all in ‘The Birdcage'. I felt a measured excitement as, bit by bit, the mystery was revealed. Chase lets her reader guess in the 2019 narrative at what’s happened, long before she reveals it in the 1999 storyline. But this also works well. The plot, once we are clued-in, erupts in such a flurry of action that you’ll be tumbling too wildly towards the climax by that point to catch your breath until it’s finished.

Be prepared to lose a couple of days if you pick up ‘The Birdcage’: this book is addictive. I couldn’t bear to put it down, and I relished every time I opened it again.

My thanks are due to Penguin Michael Joseph UK for an ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for this honest review.

Gorgeous, Chase is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Another beautifully written gothic tale by Eve Chase. She loves to drip feed the reader throughout and prepare them for a fantastic awe inspiring end and she does this perfectly. Initially I did not really like the sisters Kat and Flora particularly in 1999 but once I realised they also had crosses to bear and demons of their own I warmed to them. What started as a very dysfunctional family ended with a family bond that would not be broken. This is the second Eve Chase novel that I have read and again will recommend. Thank you to Michael Joseph/Penguin for the ARC

I enjoyed the author’s last book but this one did not hit the mark for me. Slow to get into and unlikeable characters. Slog to get to the end. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Emotional, atmospheric and beautifully written, I thought this was an excellent mystery which dealt with the complex relationships between sisters and really captured a sense of time and place so well that I could almost feel that I was in Cornwall in 1999, waiting for the eclipse. I don't think there were a great many unexpected twists in the plot, but I don't think that it mattered, because the secrets that were uncovered were done so slowly, one by one, and I was drawn in by the plot and the complicated, flawed characters. I really enjoyed it.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I have really enjoyed all Eve Chases books, and I enjoyed this, but I really couldn’t take to any of the sisters at all, I found I was really loosing interest towards the end and I’d kind of guessed the outcomes, but as always with Eve the description of the setting was very atmospheric and it was an enjoyable me read for the most part. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early copy.

This was so incredibly atmospheric - very Daphne du Maurier! - and one of the most well-written thrillers I've ever read. I enjoyed the difficult dynamic between the sisters and how each of them was entirely distinct. Chase definitely captured teenage angst perfectly!

My awe waned towards the end of the novel, however. I guessed most of the twists relatively early and was somewhat undwerwhelmed by the ending. I also felt the whirlwind romance was a little unnecessary! Nevertheless, I will definitely be looking out for more of Chase's work.

I definitely believe this book is written for a different reader than myself. I enjoy thrillers but this felt as though it were written for a generation before me, similar to Agatha Christie.

The storyline was enticing and exciting but overworked, it could’ve been shortened down 200 pages and would’ve had the same effect for me. Scenery was over described and rather long winded. For others who struggle with visualisation when reading i can see how that might be of use, but for me as a reader it felt excessive.

Character descriptions and relationships were fantastic, emotions transgressed the pages as clear visuals. Understanding the dynamic between the characters in this book played a major role in figuring out the direction we were taking. Beautifully executed.

Grasping the dual timelines was rather difficult for me reading this the first time as i couldn’t see the connections and relevancy of the jumps; obviously after finishing the book i can see how they were interwoven but while reading, it felt messy and inconsistent.

I have to point out a line in this book which didn’t sit right with me throughout: ‘with a Tourette's-like ability to say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time.’ While i’m sure this wasn’t meant to be perceived as ableism, it did read ignorantly as using Tourette’s as a description is disrespectful and inaccurate. Not delving further into how that can be damaging to those with Tourette’s and how society views them.

I was first introduced to Eve Chase’s novel after seeing The Glass House was part of the Richard and Judy Book Club. The Bird Cage has a similar theme to Black Rabbit Hall and The Glass House, which I was pleased about as I enjoyed them both. I love family mysteries and big old houses full of secrets.

This was another Eve Chase book that I really enjoyed. She always manages to create really atmospheric page-turners and I love her style of writing. Rock Point, as with houses in her previous novels, was so vividly described, as was the harsh and rugged beauty of the Cornish coastline.

The family was clearly a dysfunctional one, as all the daughters were desperate for the love and attention of the patriarch Charlie. While he certainly wouldn’t be winning any dad of the year awards, it was easy to see why he was so loved by his daughters (if not their mothers!) Some of the later revelations didn’t come as a complete surprise to me as I predicted them quite early on. However, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. I still loved the story and how the loose ends were all tied up at the end.

It was an unsettling read at times but also perfectly displayed the complexities of sibling rivalries and familial love. Another great book from Eve Chase that I would definitely recommend.