Birdcage Walk

‘'Who would look at this place and desire it?''

‘'The Siege'' by Helen Dunmore was one of the very first books I read in English, when I was 18. Since then, she has become one of the authors whose work I closely follow. Her stories are raw, with a distinctive kind of beauty, sometimes full of a kind of discomforting honesty as in the case of ‘'Talking to the Dead''. In ‘'Birdcage Walk'', she provides one more excellent example of Historical Fiction.

The original Birdcage Walk is a famous street in Westminster, in London, but here, Dunmore transfers it to Bristol. We find ourselves in 1792, in an era of violence, of political and social turmoil caused by the aftermath of the French Revolution. Our main character is a young woman named Lizzie Fawkes who was born to a mother of radical intellectual beliefs. This creates significant problems to her marriage with John Diner Tredevant whose conservative convictions and worries about the major difficulties caused in his job by the turbulent times, along with a dark secret of his past compose a suffocating environment for Lizzie.

I've always found the era of the French Revolution magnetizing and I haven't had the chance to read a great number of novels dealing with its impact on other European countries. In ‘'Birdcage Walk'', the consequences of the Revolution and the beginning of the Reign of Terror blend in the narration in a coherent, beautiful way. We witness the spreading of the news in England, and the fear caused by the upheaval in the sovereign monarchy of the Albion. Not to mention, the dread of a possible war between the two countries. I was pleasantly surprised to see the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat and the trial of Charlotte Corday being included in the story,an event that continues to fascinate and attract much speculation

So,when you're dealing with such an important, rich historical period, there's always the risk that your plot and characters may be overshadowed. This isn't the case here. Without presenting a large cast of characters, Dunmore creates realistically problematic protagonists, people that you can love, hate and connect to.

‘'You speak too freely.''

The focus is on Lizzie. She is clever, innocent, but fully aware of her surroundings and the traps that lay before her. She is a very earthly, very realistic character. A woman who tries to balance her love for her family and her feelings for her husband. Diner is, to put it simply, a despicable character.I may sound too harsh or dogmatic, but I hated him from the very first moment and my hatred grew with each page. He is cruel, cold, heartless. He wants to control Lizzie to the fullest. What she eats, whom she sees,where she goes, when she smiles, why she smiles, everything. He is a toxic, suffocating individual. It seemed to me that between him and Lizzie there was only a physical, sexual connection, dark and unhealthy. This is a man who's incapable of love of any kind.

The secondary characters are very well-drawn and very interesting.Julia, Lizzie's mother, a woman who follows her convictions to the end, Hannah, the nurse, the rock of the household, Augustus, Lizzie's stepfather, sensitive and with his head in the clouds, Phillo,the stern but faithful young maid, and Will, a young, radical poet, a dreamer. However, the character that casts a long,dark shadow in the plot, is Lucie, Diner's first wife and the spectre that haunts Lizzie's mind and marriage.

This brings me to the structure and the themes of the novel.There is the Prelude that I found so engaging.The story starts at a graveyard, following a middle-aged man and a striking discovery by his dog,The powerful presence of Death remains tangible during the first stages of the book, and the reader already begins to wonder. Does Dunmore give certain things away too early? Yes, she does and this adds to that gloomy, foreboding feeling of impending danger that shimmers constantly as the chapters fly. There is a distinctive echo of Du Maurier's ‘'Rebecca'', the similarities are unmistakable as the first wife's shadow falls on Lizzie, the gloomy,haunting landscape that surrounds her, the dilapidated estate begging for an owner that slowly becomes a prison...

Those who are already fans of Dunmore's writing are certain to enjoy ‘'Birdcage Walk''. The ones who wish to familiarize themselves with her work will find a perfect introduction in this novel, and a powerful example of well-written Historical Fiction.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.