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Bird Cottage
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
9 posts | 8 read | 20 to read
A novel based on the life story of a remarkable woman, her lifelong relationship with birds and the joy she drew from it I want to find out how they behave when they're free. Len Howard was forty years old when she decided to leave her London life and loves behind, retire to the English countryside and devote the rest of her days to her one true passion: birds. Moving to a small cottage in Sussex, she wrote two bestselling books, astonishing the world with her observations on the tits, robins, sparrows and other birds that lived nearby, flew freely in and out of her windows, and would even perch on her shoulder as she typed. This moving novel imagines the story of this remarkable woman's decision to defy society's expectations, and the joy she drew from her extraordinary relationship with the natural world. Eva Meijer is a Dutch author, artist, singer, songwriter and philosopher. Her non-fiction study on animal Communication, Animal Languages, is forthcoming in English in 2019. Bird Cottage is her first novel to be translated into English, has been nominated for the BNG and Libris prizes in the Netherlands and is being translated into several languages. Eva Meijer was awarded the Halewijn Prize in 2017 for all of the books she has written so far.
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review
jlhammar
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Pickpick

This novel was inspired by the life and writings of British naturalist and musician, Gwendolen (Len) Howard. A portrait of an extraordinary woman who chose to live an unconventional life dedicated to the study of birds in their natural habitat. Lovely and poignant.

#NaturaLitsyBingo2023 Fiction

squirrelbrain I loved this one too! 8mo
AllDebooks Sounds good 😍 8mo
Tamra Sounds like a must try! 8mo
77 likes6 stack adds4 comments
quote
jlhammar
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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“I shouldn‘t ask myself whether what I‘m doing is useful, or whether it‘s enough. The birds show me that time is not the straight line that humans make of it. Things don‘t come to an end, they just change form. A feeling becomes a thought, a thought an action, an action a thought, a thought a feeling…This is how times intermingle; this is how we exist in different moments all at once.”

Photo of Len Howard at Bird Cottage

Deblovestoread I love this quote! 8mo
Cuilin Beautiful quote. Comforting. 🥰 8mo
Larkken Love this 😍 8mo
57 likes3 comments
review
Andrea313
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Pickpick

Another one I bought in the winter with an eye toward a joyful spring read. Inspired by the life of Gwendolen Howard and interspersed with her own writings, this book tells the story of 'Len' who quits her life as a concert violinist in London to live alone in a Sussex cottage studying birds. Her relationships with her birds are deeper than any she shares with fellow humans, lending the story a slight melancholy- but it's also completely charming.

dabbe The cover is beautiful, too! 🤩🤩🤩 11mo
jlhammar Yay! This is in my summer reading stack. Really looking forward to it. 10mo
DivineDiana I must read this! Thank you for bringing to my attention. 🐦 And a beautiful photo! ❤️ (edited) 10mo
36 likes2 stack adds3 comments
blurb
LeslieO
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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batsy Love the Bird Cottage cover! 11mo
Eggs Wow beautiful 🤩 💛🤗 11mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I love yellow 💛📚 11mo
42 likes3 comments
review
squirrelbrain
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Pickpick

I loved this quirky little book. It‘s based on a real person, Len Howard, who devotes her life to learning about birds, and believes they should be observed in their natural habitat, not in a lab. She ends up with birds free to come and go from her cottage, but noisy annoying people are less than welcome!

There are novelised aspects, interspersed with extracts from her diaries; utterly charming!

65 likes3 stack adds
blurb
LeslieO
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Found an indie bookstore on vacation (Spring Lake, NJ) AND it‘s named after my favorite song! Of course I had to make a purchase or two. Got one that‘s one my list and one I‘ve never heard of. #indiebookstore #vacationbookshopping #ThunderRoadBooks

review
RealLifeReading
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Pickpick

It‘s funny when you stumble across a book that is just right for your frame of mind. This book, in all its pastoral ramble-y ways, was that quiet I did not know I needed, in a world that is strangely quiet in ways (less traffic) but crazily loud in so many other ways (ALL THE NEWS). It‘s strangely charming and yet profoundly sad, this woman‘s life among her birds, especially in contrast to her younger self as a musician in London.

RealLifeReading An explanation for her reclusiveness isn‘t exactly stated (at least not that I recall) but maybe the reader is meant to reflect on that and wonder 4y
Hoopiefoot Pastoral rambly books apparently are the only thing I can read right now. Adding this to my list! 4y
RealLifeReading @Hoopiefoot hope you like it! 😀 4y
109 likes3 stack adds3 comments
quote
charl08
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Love a wild swim description.

32 likes1 stack add
blurb
charl08
Bird Cottage | Eva Meijer
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Gorgeous cover, loving this so far.

CouronneDhiver Very pretty! 5y
Tanisha_A 😍 5y
49 likes2 comments