The Bird Woman
Kerry Hardie
Little, Brown, August 2006
General Fiction
Reviewer:
Amber Stults
Posted: February 1, 2008
* * * * * *
From the moment I picked up
The Bird Woman I found it difficult to put down. The tale of Ellen McKinnon begins in 2001 and includes flashbacks to various points in her life. For some authors flashbacks can be difficult to handle, but Kerry Hardie uses them expertly. They seamlessly flow into one another without jarring the reader out of the moment.
The prologue opens with a phone call from Ellen’s brother and his wife. It’s unexpected and includes news about her mother’s ill health. It’s the beginning of a journey Ellen makes unwillingly.
Hardie parallels the division between Northern and Southern Ireland to the division in Ellen’s life. The first flashback reveals Ellen’s first marriage and how her second husband, Liam, saved her from a poorly chosen life.
Towards the start of the novel, it appears as though Ellen uses men as a means of escape. She proclaims herself “a good girl looking to be a bad one” when she meets Robbie, her first husband. He seems hard because he drinks too much and won’t take guff from anyone yet he hangs out with university students. Robbie is interested in education and ideas. Her family doesn’t like him and his family doesn’t like her.
After they are married Ellen goes through a rough time. She has visions of events to come, miscarries, and can’t stop crying. The medicine doesn’t seem to help and she enters a mental institution. It’s shortly after her departure from the institution when she meets Liam and realizes her future lies with him. Within a few hours of her second meeting with Liam, Ellen has a story planned for Robbie to explain her upcoming absence. It’s really a ruse for going off with Liam and starting a new life with him. She’s given up a Northern Protestant for a Southern Catholic. Her life in Northern Ireland appears to be behind her but the beliefs a person is raised with colors the life a person leads.
Ellen’s mother always seemed self-righteous in her belief between right and wrong. It’s her black and white beliefs that constantly make Ellen try to reign in the visions. Slowly the visions change into the ability to heal others. The phone call from her brother puts Ellen in a strange place. She can’t heal everything that’s wrong with a person and the pain she experiences from a fatal illness can be difficult to bear.
Many of the characters in
The Bird Woman are likable though some are simply tolerated. It’s because the book is told from Ellen’s point of view that anyone who harms Ellen or makes her feel bad can be forgiven. Everyone has a reason for their actions, even her harsh mother.
I’ve never traveled to Ireland but Hardie’s prose makes the land come alive. I can hear the windows rattle in the cottage Ellen and Liam call home. The skies darken under the wings of birds in flight. It’s difficult to imagine this story told anywhere else.
Help Spread the Word
Want to foward the information on this page to a friend? Click the
Book Review : The Bird Woman, Kerry Hardie page link now for an easy way to e-mail
your friends a link back to this page.
(Please note this link opens in a new window, so please make sure your pop-up blocker is deactivated.)
