Gravity Of Birds

A haunting debut of love in all its forms, The Gravity of Birds perfectly captures the devastating consequences betrayal can have through the decades, echoing right through to the present day.

Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Maggie O’Farrell

Sisters Alice and Natalie were once close, but adolescence has wrenched them apart. Alice loves books and birds in equal measure, and spends her summer holidays frowning into volumes of poetry, with an ear out for unusual birdcalls. If Alice is the clever one, her older sister, Natalie, is the beautiful one. Sexy and manipulative, she captivates men everywhere.

On their lakeside family holiday, Alice falls under the thrall of the supremely talented, enigmatic next-door-neighbour, a struggling young painter. Thomas seems wild and dangerous; her parents disapprove of him but to Alice, he is gentle, wise and kind – really listening to her hopes and dreams in a way that no-one has ever done before.

Natalie remains aloof, and seems strangely unmoved by the charismatic stranger in their midst. She tolerates the family sittings for the portrait Thomas is paining of them all with a barely disguised distaste. But as the family portrait – a moment frozen in time – nears completion, the family dynamics shift irrevocably. And by the end of the summer, three lives are shattered.

A haunting debut of love in all its forms, The Gravity of Birds perfectly captures the devastating consequences betrayal can have through the decades, echoing right through to the present day.

A haunting debut of love in all its forms, The Gravity of Birds perfectly captures the devastating consequences betrayal can have through the decades, echoing right through to the present day.

Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Maggie O’Farrell

Sisters Alice and Natalie were once close, but adolescence has wrenched them apart. Alice is a dreamer who loves books and birds; Natalie is headstrong, manipulative – and beautiful.

On their lakeside family holiday, Alice falls under the thrall of a struggling young painter, Thomas Bayber. Natalie, however, seems strangely unmoved, tolerating sittings for a family portrait with surprising indifference. But by the end of the summer, three lives are shattered.

Decades later, Thomas, now a world-renowned artist, reveals the existence of a portrait of himself with Alice and Natalie from that fateful summer. The sisters themselves have disappeared without a trace. And Thomas is torn between taking the secrets of the girls to the grave, or using the painting to resurrect the past before it closes up on them all for good…