Wings of desire
THE GIFTS, by Liz Hyder (Bonnier, $32.99)
is set against the backdrop of 19th-century London, a time of exploration and scientific discovery, when British women were finally getting a sniff of independence. It tells the stories of four women: Natalya, a storyteller from far up north; Etta, a botanist gentlewoman with a West Indian mother ripped from her country of birth; Mary, a budding journalist seeking to make her way; and Annie, a talented artist and the wife of surgeon Edward Meake. Extraordinarily, some women in this world have wings, a gift that can transform their lives but, paints a convincing picture of the 19th-century streets of London, alive with opportunity and danger, and easily convinces readers to suspend their disbelief. Intense and joyful.
