“The "Richard and Judy book club" sticker on the front made me quite dubious about this book. The £1 price tag, on the other hand, tempted me, along the promise of mystery and adventure.
The Conjuror's Bird is a novel set in two times: the present and the late 1700s. The narratives unfold in parallel, with a piece of present always followed by a piece of past. In the present, our hero is a taxidermist / specialist in extinct birds / academic / former conservationist, Fitz. In the past, our heroes are Joseph Banks and Mary Burton.
At the centre of the story is the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta - a bird that was discovered by explorers, shot, drawn, stuffed, and taken home to Britain to be classified. It would have been less mysterious if another bird of that species had ever been encountered again, but this was not to be. The stuffed bird disappeared from the historic record after making a brief appearance in Joseph Banks' collection.
The story of Fitz is a detective story. He and his allies and competing factions are trying to find the bird, against the odds. The story of Joseph Banks is a romance story. He has been mesmerised by a woman that he cannot ever marry because of her different status.
At first, the book starts out being exactly what I feared it might be. Easy reading, competently written but without anything really interesting going on. A slight sprinkling of mystery in an otherwise bland piece of writing by the numbers - exactly the sort of thing that Richard and Judy seemingly adore. The story in the present flows easily and is full of small cliffhangers. The story in the past is written in a different tone, but not a beautiful one. Instead, longer sentences and a slightly changed vocabulary produce a vaguely authentic period effect, but without energy in the writing.
As the story progressed, it became engrossing. The narrative of the past started being less predictable. The revelations of the present infused the past with tension, as certain mysteries in the present seemed to hint at threats in the past. By the end of the book, I could not put it down.
It's not a deep book, or a very literary one. It is, however, an enjoyable read, building up momentum gradually and creating memorable, likeable characters in the process. It never insults the intelligence of the reader, though, which is more than can be said for some of the other Richard and Judy book club selections. I would definitely recommend it for a light read. ”
Robert H wrote this review Sunday, March 21, 2010.
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The Conjuror's BirdMartin Davies
