A review by knitter22
The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys

4.0

I've just finished The Evening Chorus and it is exquisite. It's a quiet but commanding book about how three people, a man, his wife, and his sister, deal with life during WWII in England and afterward. James Hunter has been captured and sent to a German POW camp. He studies a pair of redstarts nesting just beyond the camp’s perimeter, and this attracts the attention of the camp’s kommandant. There is a frightening misunderstanding, but their mutual appreciation for the natural world forms an unlikely and lasting bond between the men. James' wife, Rose, seems to misunderstand James' letters about birds and their habits, but finds the emotional solace she seeks with her two dogs and another man. James’s sister, Enid, comes to live with Rose after her married lover dies when her London flat was bombed.

Humphreys writes simply and beautifully about love and loss, but at its heart, this is really a story about the constancy of nature during a time of unspeakable human ruin. I'm tempted to re-read it immediately but want to just sit with it for a while.

“You can't undo actions with words.”