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A review by jmatkinson1
The Language of Birds by Jill Dawson
4.0
After a traumatic time involving giving up two children and psychiatric care Mandy River is ready to move forward. She arrives in London to work as a nanny with little training but lots of experience and is taken on by Lady Morven to look after her two children. Mandy is supported by her friend Rosemary, a Norland Nanny, and she falls for Neville, a local man. Life in the Morven household is chaotic with fragile Lady Morven in the midst of a bitter battle with her estranged husband, the glamorous gambling Lord Morven. Eventually this has to end in tragedy.
Dawson says that she wanted to write about Lord Lucan but wanted some artistic licence and here she has imagined characters grounded in fact but embellished with fiction. Mandy is a rather tragic character, Lady Morven hard to like and Lord Morven may or may not be a killer. The period touches are immaculate - contraception and sex, racism and fashion are handled brilliantly - the life of society and poverty in 1970s London is juxtaposed. There is a certain degree of floweriness to the writing in places but the sadness of all comes through.
Dawson says that she wanted to write about Lord Lucan but wanted some artistic licence and here she has imagined characters grounded in fact but embellished with fiction. Mandy is a rather tragic character, Lady Morven hard to like and Lord Morven may or may not be a killer. The period touches are immaculate - contraception and sex, racism and fashion are handled brilliantly - the life of society and poverty in 1970s London is juxtaposed. There is a certain degree of floweriness to the writing in places but the sadness of all comes through.