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The Naming of the Birds by Paraic O’Donnell

“They are to have new names, the master says. They are to be called after birds.”

The Naming of the Birds by Paraic O’Donnell is the second in the gothic mystery series featuring Scotland Yard’s Inspector Cutter and Sergeant Bliss, and journalist Octavia Hillingdon. If you haven’t read the first book, The House on Vesper Sands, you should definitely check it out too!

I love mysteries and this one was satisfyingly twisty! Set in the 1800s, the characters are well crafted, with unique and memorable personalities and the plot is really well-paced, keeping you turning pages long after you should be asleep!

We learn more about our protagonists and their pasts in this installment, as they investigate a gruesome murder. This crime may have ties to a decades-ago fire in which dozens of children were killed at an asylum.

This is a dark tale that explores themes of revenge, justice, and abuse, but O’Donnell’s writing keeps things from getting too grim, with witty interactions between characters and evocative descriptions of the surroundings.

I particularly loved how he brought the natural world to life- full of wonder and rich imagery. For example, here’s a passage about a hawk that was spotted by one of the characters: “It vanished then, until he caught it settling on a parapet. It folded itself away, black brushstrokes against a black ground.”

Breathtaking!

Hi, Friends! I hope you had a good reading month! I got a chance to read some wonderful books in February – some old, some new, some yet to come! As always, I have a one-word review of the titles books below, but please head to my Bookshop.org shop to learn more about these books and purchase a copy of any that catch your interest! (All purchases made using the link help support my site!)

P.S. Distilling my thoughts down to one word to describe these incredible books is really, really hard!! 🙂 I will have longer, professional reviews coming for The Formula and The Wives, so stay tuned for when those are published! For the others, be sure to follow me on Instagram @gracerajendran for brief reviews as I read them!

The Formula: How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 Into the World’s Fastest-Growing Sport by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg (March 12): ENTERTAINING!

A Garden Called Home by Jessica J. Lee and Elaine Chen (March 5): HEART-WARMING!

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: FUN!

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus: SUSPENSEFUL!

The Gulf by Adam De Souza: EVOCATIVE!

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport (March 5): THOUGHT-PROVOKING!

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer: RIVETING!

The Wives by Simone Gorrindo (April 9): ENGROSSING!

Happy Reading!

An illustration of an owl by artist Grace Rajendran, featuring a quote from author Jennifer Ackerman ("What An Owl Knows").

While “owls are not omnipresent for us in the way songbirds are, they’re present for us in some deeper way or place, where night lives inside us.”

-Jennifer Ackerman, in “What An Owl Knows”

This was one of my favorite quotes from What An Owl Knows: The New Science of The World’s Most Enigmatic Bird by Jennifer Ackerman (The Genius of Birds). If you’re intrigued by owls as well or curious to learn more about their natural history, biology, and lore, be sure to check out my Starred Review of this fascinating book in the Nature & Environment section of the July 7th issue of Shelf Awareness (CLICK HERE).

Book cover of "What An Owl Knows" by Jennifer Ackerman.