A Little Bird: A Novel

Written by Wendy James

Narrated by Tamala Shelton and Sandy Greenwood

A homecoming snares a young woman in a dangerous tangle of lies, secrets, and bad blood in this gripping novel by the bestselling author of An Accusation.

Running from a bad relationship, journalist Jo Sharpe heads home to Arthurville, the drought-stricken town she turned her back on years earlier. While some things have changed—her relationship with her ailing, crotchety father, her new job at the community newspaper—Jo finds that her return has rekindled the grief and uncertainty she experienced during her childhood following the inexplicable disappearance of her mother and baby sister.

Returning to Arthurville has its unexpected pleasures, though, as Jo happily reconnects with old friends and makes a few new ones. But she can’t let go of her search for answers to that long-ago mystery. And as she keeps investigating, the splash she’s making begins to ripple outward—far beyond the disappearance of her mother and sister.

Jo is determined to dig as deep as it takes to get answers. But it’s not long before she realises that someone among the familiar faces doesn’t want her picking through the debris of the past. And they’ll go to any lengths to silence the little bird before she sings the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781713592327

Wendy James

Wendy James is the celebrated author of eight novels, including the bestselling The Mistake and the compelling The Golden Child, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Ned Kelly Award for crime. Her debut novel, Out of the Silence, won the 2006 Ned Kelly Award for first crime novel, and was shortlisted for the Nita May Dobbie award for women's writing. Wendy works as an editor at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation and writes some of the sharpest and most topical domestic noir novels in the country.

Reviews for A Little Bird

[shelleyraec · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Little Bird is an intriguing, character-driven mystery from Australian author Wendy James.When the end of her relationship coincides with learning her father is ill, journalist Jo Sharpe reluctantly returns to her home town of Arthurville in western New South Wales to take up a position at the town’s local newspaper. Her father, a grumpy alcoholic, bitter about his wife’s desertion over twenty years ago, hasn’t changed much but the town, in the grip of drought, is in obvious decline. One of Jo’s first assignments for the Arthurville Chronicle, which is really not more than a community newsletter, takes her to Pembroke, her wealthy grandmothers estate on the outskirts of town. The Beaufort’s are little more than strangers to Jo, given they disowned her mother, Miranda aka Merry when she married Jo’s working class father, and failed to reach out even after Merry vanished, taking Jo’s baby sister Amy with her, in 1995. Confronted with her past, Jo is motivated to re-examine her mother’s disappearance, and makes a shocking discovery that changes everything.Shifting between the past and present, as Merry’s history unfolds, exposing her frame of mind prior to her disappearance, Jo’s narrative, set in 2018, is related in the first person.Jo is a well-developed, likeable character. She presents as resilient, smart and determined, though her vulnerabilities, stemming from her mother’s abandonment, her father’s neglect, and the collapse of her long term romantic relationship, are evident. The small community of Arthurville is realistically portrayed, a conservative rural town affected by drought and the subsequent economic downturn. Of its residents I was fond of local vicar Shep, with whom Jo rekindles a relationship, as well as the teens he is mentoring.Jo’s investigation begins as she reconnects with the people from her past, most notably her mother’s friend, Kirsty, who provides Jo with some information that prompts her to look at Merry’s disappearance differently. While I felt the pacing was a little slow through the first half of the novel, there is a gradual increase of tension during the second half. I really liked the way the mystery played out, I thought James’ plotting was clever, and I was anxious to understand Merry and Amy’s fate.A slow-burning, but gripping domestic thriller, I enjoyed A Little Bird.

[squirrelhead_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Josephine "Jo" Sharpe is our main narrator in this Australian novel. She returns home to the backwater town Arthurville with a bit of reluctance because of her family's past and also to help her father as he is in poor health. Mick doesn't blink an eye when Jo arrives at the unkempt home desite the fact that they haven't spoken for over two years. They rarely commmunicate and yet they coexist and skirt the big issue about her mother and baby sister disappearing over 20 years ago.Jo was a journalist in a large city and her new job at The Chronicle has her writing fluff material such as the grandparent's day gathering and who won first prize for their crafting assignments. In the dilapidated newspaper office she comes across old newspaper clippings with a gossip column called The Little Bird. Eventually Jo discovers her mother had a hand in this anonymous column which shared salacious community information such as who may be having an affair or who may have dented the fences in front of the drug store, all without naming names of course. There are multiple narrators in this story and you will be taken back to the 1990's when Jo's mother Merry up and leaves with the baby Amy. Merry was from a weathy family and was destined for university in Sydney until she ran into Mick one day. Mick is/was a working class man who would never have crossed paths with Merry in any social setting. As it worked out, Merry became pregnant and all the big plans went up in smoke. Her family was....displeased.You will go back and forth between the two time lines, mysteries are revealed and finally by the end of the book you'll discover what happened to baby Amy and Jo's young mother.Overall it was a decent read but a bit slow here and there. I was wanting more atmospheric details about the Australian setting but there is little of that. There is the occasional mention of the extreme heat and dusty roads but that's it.Publication date November 30, 2021 by Lake Union Publishing. Genre: General Fiction and Women's Fiction.Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book. I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.