Friday, May 10, 2024

Book Review: Crow Talk

By Allyson Bales

Frankie O’Neill and Anne Ryan would seem to have nothing in common. Frankie is a lonely ornithologist struggling to salvage her dissertation on the spotted owl following a rift with her advisor. Anne is an Irish musician far from home and family, raising her five-year-old son, Aiden, who refuses to speak.

At Beauty Bay, a community of summer homes nestled on the shores of June Lake, in the remote foothills of Mount Adams, it’s off-season with most houses shuttered for the fall. But Frankie, adrift, returns to the rundown caretaker’s cottage that has been in the hardworking O'Neill family for generations—a beloved place and a constant reminder of the family she has lost. And Anne, in the wake of a tragedy that has disrupted her career and silenced her music, has fled to the neighboring house, a showy summer home owned by her husband's wealthy family.

When Frankie finds an injured baby crow in the forest, little does she realize that the charming bird will bring all three lost souls—Frankie, Anne, and Aiden—together on a journey toward hope, healing, and rediscovering joy. Crow Talk is an achingly beautiful story of love, grief, friendship, and the healing power of nature in the darkest of times. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

This is my first Eileen Garvin read and I am not really sure what I have been doing with my life but adding the rest of her backlist to my TBR is first on my to-do list this week!

Garvins writing, the characters, the plot, and how I felt reading this book all made this a book I will remember for some time to come.

I found that this is a slower moving read.  I really took my time with it reading a few chapters at a time allowing myself time to really absorb the story and I recommend you do the same.  I also really loved all the details and facts about crows.  I see them all the time but now have a new understanding of the species and have shared a few of the facts with people around me.  The crow represented a lot of the themes of the story which I also really enjoyed and especially feel in love with Charlie Crow and Aiden.

I love characters that are harder to get to know and understand, but once you do they are characters that leave a lasting impression.  Both Charlie Crow and Aiden were that for me and I really can’t wait for you to meet them.  How both help other characters in the story reflect and grow was very heartwarming and thought provoking.  The characters explore themes of grief, healing, friendship, and what it means to find yourself again and they are so incredibly relatable. 

While this story was a slow burn, it really snuck up on me at the end and I found myself so overcome with so many feelings.  I really don’t remember the last story I read where that happened.  I found so much hope in this story and don’t think I will ever look at crows the same way again.

Thanks to Dutton for the book in exchange for an honest review. Purchase Crow Talk here.

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