Louise Doughty’s new novel, A Bird in Winter, is replete with tension. It begins with a familiar scene. The protagonist, Heather, attends a work meeting in a room dubbed ‘Alaska’ because it is so cold. Her workmates are seated at a glass board room table. Her boss stands by the window, coffee cup in hand. After he makes an announcement, Heather’s workmates sit stunned. Heather does not hesitate. She makes for the door and doesn’t look back. She is on the run.
It is not until much later that we learn what Heather’s boss said and why she reacted the way she did. Throughout the novel, we are not sure if the perceived threat is real, or a figment of Heather’s anxious mind generated by the nature of her work and training. Doughty releases tantalising but incomplete snippets of information about Heather’s past and we learn more about her from her actions as she journeys north from Manchester to Scotland and its remote islands.
The unpredictability of her route and the visceral descriptions of Heather’s physical sensations keep the reader closely engaged in her journey as well as her thoughts and memories. The tension never eases. A Bird in Winter is every bit as suspenseful as Apple Tree Yard, Doughty’s 2013 novel, now a BBC One television mini-series.
Apart from the enjoyment of reading a good thriller, I found fascinating the descriptions of Scotland and its islands. Heather moves from one remote village to another in her flight and Doughty outlines each location in brilliant visual and sensory detail. The unforgiving weather, the stark physical beauty of the landscape and the links to Heather’s past life offer some familiarity and hope to the desperate heroine of the story.
By the end of the novel, the central question has changed from ‘What made Heather run?’ to ‘Will she ever stop?’ You will have to read it to learn the answer.
If you are looking for a fast-paced and engaging thriller set in a fascinating landscape, you can’t go past Louise Doughty’s A Bird in Winter.
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A Bird in Winter by Louise Doughty
Faber & Faber, 2023, 347 pages
ISBN: 978-0-571-32218-3