I was interested in reading this book as my mother-in-law used to live in one of the Clifton terraces being built at the time the book is set.

A man walking his dog through an overgrown cemetery finds the grave of a late eighteenth century female writer. He tries to find out more but learns that nothing by her survives.

This book is the story of Julia, the writer and her daughter who is  trapped in an abusive marriage  to John a builder.  Helen Dunmore again chooses a difficult subject but she writes beautifully with the ear of a poet.  This is particularly noticeable in the dialogue.  I like that she lets the reader decide the ending rather than giving a happy ever after. 

In an afterword the  author reveals that the subject of legacy is important to her as she is suffering from a serious illness herself.  I was saddened to read this and send her my best wishes.

For me, this book was just ok,  There was enough substance to keep my interest and reading.  I could definitely picture the characters and time period once the main story began. The introduction didn't quite flow with the rest of the book.  I understood what the author was trying to do by starting with present day, but felt it needed some finesse.  It also didn't clearly go back to where it started, which is what I had expected, so felt something missing.

I really enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written and obviously well researched. It held my attention the whole way through. This book is set in the time of the French Revolution and paints a horrific picture of what was happening in France. It also talks about what is happening in England. Diners decline and Lizzies fear for her safety and what secrets he hides kept me reading. I would definitely recommend this book.

Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore was a courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review. Thanks so much to all for this opportunity.

Loved the constant tension and thrill that Ms. Dunmore kept all the way through the novel, from the very chilling first chapter on. We absolutely knew where the book was going to but we did not know for sure how and when certain events would happen, so the tension was building and building up until the closing scenes of Lizzie's fate with Diner. 

I also loved how Lizzie's character was changing throughout the story. How she was starting out (still, outside the novel's scope, in her past) as almost a rebellious teenager, who, in spite of her very progressive upbringing, and in spite of her whole family's bad feelings toward Diner, married this man, who was so opposed to everything she was supposed to possess. Slowly and gradually (at times, almost in an obnoxiously naive way) she realizes what kind of man Diner was. At the same time she was recognizing herself with the true help of her mom's love and ideas, discovering strength and purpose in herself for the rest of her life.

Loved how the less important characters are not two-dimensional either. All of them have quite a depth that explains a lot about their actions and words. The only exception, I think, is Will, the poet, who seems to be fallen in the story for only one purpose (to lead the threads to a quasi happy - and somewhat cheesy - ending).

There is some deep attractive character in Ms. Dunmore's writing style: it grabs you from the very first sentence and does not let you go until the very last. She is poetic and lyrical where she needs to be; her dialogues are lively and plausible, never pretentious; the descriptions are very precise and picturesque without being overwritten and pompous; her chosen point of view (Lizzie's in most of the book) reveals just as much as the reader needs to be intrigued and pushed on to read more. Interestingly enough, while I was reading the book, I had some uncertain feelings about it as a whole but never frustrated or annoyed because the author's definite and very confident style seemed to guaranteed that I could trust in her to the very end - and I was not disappointed indeed.

There are a few reasons why I haven't given it 5 stars (actually it is like 4.5 rather than 4). First, I find the modern day Prologue completely unnecessary. I understand the author's purpose of giving the readers some kind of context, but all that does not add anything to the novel. Second, I found, again, we did not need some of the parts that concentrated on the actual French revolution events. I think they distracted the readers from the very determined, strong, and purposeful main path of the book. These circumstances could have been just mentioned without detailed ('eye witness') descriptions (the King's and Charlotte Corday's fate, etc). I don't think we needed this depth to understand why Augustus has become more and more uncertain about his attraction to the French revolutionaries. These are so well known historical events that even the mentioning them would have done the job they intended to do.

I had a hard time getting into this book.  It came across as very dry.  Since I dd not finish the book, I do not intend to publish a review.

There is a haunting, elegaic air to this novel, with a brooding tension in the relationship between Lizzie and her husband, a tension which one senses could erupt into violence and danger at any moment.    This echoes the political tensions of the day, as the news from France, of terror and executions, is passed by letter from observers in Paris.  

Lizzie is a strange mix of action, in her protection of her infant brother, and passivity, in her acceptance of her husband and his actions.  

All in all this adds up to a disturbing novel that needs to be read carefully.

Set in 1792, Lizzie Fawkes has grown up among her mother's radical friends who support the French Revolution. But Lizzie is now married to a housing developer, John Diner Tredevant, who disagrees with the Revolution and believes that Lizzie's carefree spirit should be quelled. Diner see's Lizzie as his property and her independence as a threat, and his passion for her grows until Lizzie finds herself alone with a stranger who is not the man she married at all.

I was drawn to this book because of the time period in which it was set. However I found myself disappointed by this book. The story was well written and Helen Dunmore captured the tension of this era, however the story is set in Bristol where the characters are far removed from the political events taking place in France. The plot was sluggish and lacked any development throughout. The beginning of the story felt completely disconnected from the novel and I kept waiting to go back to that story but it was never mentioned again. So while the writing was elegant the plot was lacking too much for me to enjoy this story.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

‘’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.

Set in the closing years of the 18th century as France is in the grips of revolution, Birdcage Walk tells the story of an Englishwomen who is observing the events across the channel at third hand through her family's subversive connections.  Lizzie Tredevant is the daughter of radical thinker and writer Julia Fawkes, but Lizzie herself is no revolutionary and is married to a traditional and taciturn builder, John 'Diner' Tredevant, whose business building fashionable houses in the Clifton area of Bristol is in jeopardy, partly due to the uncertain political climate. Diner is a complex and brooding man who despises Lizzie's mother and her husband for their free-thinking ways and tries to control Lizzie's access to their beliefs and lifestyle.  In turn, Lizzie becomes obsessed with unravelling the mystery of what really happened to Diner's first wife, Lucie.

Lizzie is a likeable and spirited heroine and in Diner Dunmore has created and intriguing but hard-to-love foil for her enthusiasm and passion.  The book opens with an unnamed narrator, a "solitary and no doubt rather grim middle-aged man" who stumbles across Julia's grave whilst walking his dog in the cemetery adjacent to Birdcage Walk and  becomes intrigued with the story of this forgotten writer.  This opening passage intrigued me and I have to admit to being a little disappointed that we don't meet this character again.

I've always admired Helen Dunmore's elegant and understated writing style and while this book didn't engage me quite as much as some of her others (The Siege and Mourning Ruby being my favourites), I did enjoy it a lot.

To be clear from the beginning, this was not an easy read. Mainly because of the menacing cold atmosphere and the largely unsympathetic characters. I can see where Dunmore wanted to go with this and to some extent she succeeded: she wanted to show that people, especially women, had very little control over their circumstances in those times. Even if they could have been independent, like Lizzie or her mother, they often still made choices that drove them into unwanted situations. I wanted to give this 3 and a half stars, because the writing is good as is the historic setting, but I struggled too much with it to give it 4 stars. To be read on a sunny day, t counterbalance the grayness and cold of the novel.

A beautifully written book. 
The book which is written from the point of view of Lizzie a young married woman in the city of Bristol during 1790"s. She is torn between loyalty to her own family who are radicals supporting revolutionary France and her property developing husband who blames radicals at home and revolutionists in France for threatening his livelihood and business.

Helen Dunmore writes movingly of the relationship between Lizzie and her mother a radical pamphlet writer. I found the mother daughter relationship particularly well written very well explored

The relationship between Lizzie and her husband who is deeply troubled and increasingly jealous and controlling as he sees his business and wealth slipping away from him, is equally well written . The ever present figure of his deceased first wife Lucie and Lizzie's growing unease and wakening fear of the man she once adored gives the book a growing sense of impending danger as the story develops.

Personally I also enjoyed the book because it was set in Bristol a city I live near and could relate to many of the places described .

Beautifully written historical fiction the descriptions of nature and environment were lyrical and poetic, the revolutionary times and how they effected the lives of an individual family living in Bristol through the period and the exploration of what remains or survives of our lives after death made this for me a remarkable piece of writing.

I would like to thank net gallery and the publishers Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review

Birdcage Walk illustrates just how good an historical novel can be. Set in 1792 when the French Revolution is causing a frenzy of worry among France's neighbours, the story reminded me of present day issues such as the economic downturn in Ireland after 2007 when many developers went bust leaving new properties as building sites and when people lost their hard earned deposits.

Lizzie Fawkes has grown up influenced by her mother's radical writings but when she falls in love and marries  John Diner Tredevant, a property developer in Bristol, she becomes as fixated as he is by his proposal to develop a crescent of new houses above the Avon Gorge, in one of which they will live, in relative prosperity. Lizzie's husband is besotted with her but finds her tendency for independent thought threatening. He tries to subdue her by all possible means and Lizzie has to find a way of surviving as  Tredevant's property empire comes crashing down around them..

As usual Helen Dunmore has written a riveting story. My personal favourite remains Exposure but I highly recommend Birdcage Walk too. Many thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book haunts me. It's like still hearing the last notes of a beautiful piece of music long after it has ended. 

 All of Dunmore's books are very evocative of certain times and places. She has indeed written about many different periods in history and settings , from the Rome of Counting the Stars to besieged Leningrad. To me this shows a scope and skill that few writers can achieve.
This book  starts in modern day Bristol in a graveyard before switching back to the time of the French Revolution and a Lizzie Fawkes.

Lizzie has a close relationship with her "feminist/socialist" writer mother- a sort of Mary Wollstonecraft. The portrayal of this close relationship is one of the strengths of this book.. Lizzie remembers the physical closeness of her Mother as she grieves.

 Plot wise there is the "thriller"/Rebecca style plot of how Lucie (Tredevant's first wife died) and what is happening in France -with a few nods towards the reliability of the Press. The accounts of what is happening in France feel somewhat distant as they are relayed by friends' letters. However I think that realistically that would have been the experience of most British people- just hearing news from afar.

John Diner Tredevant is obviously a controlling, abusive husband who wants to rob Lizzie of any freedom of action and thought. His sexual abuse is only mentioned in passing but he wants to "thought control" her too.  Will the poet,who represents another world, reminds me a bit of Will Ladislaw in Middlemarch.

 There are maybe modern parallels to be drawn of uncertain times for Europe and the property development "boom and bust". However the beating heart of the novel is the depiction of the human relationships -Lizzie and Julia and also Lizzie and her half-brother, John.

There is an elegaic air to this novel about impermanence and how brief human lives are. This maybe comes from Helen Dunmore's own consciousness of her mortality linked to her illness that she refers to in the Afterword.  There are echoes throughout the novel of this from the  Prelude , to the graveyard where Lucie is reputedly buried through to the execution of the French King, Corday's execution etc.

Dunmore's prose is always poised and elegant. This book is one that will "haunt" me, particularly as I read it at a time when my Mum is terminally ill.  Dunmore's  Afterword sums it up in a beautiful phrase "the endless silence which surrounds our brief lives"

I assume this book has been written to document how events in France in the 1790's affected life in England. It also throws light on how the written work of female writers of the time has not been preserved. Dunmore has used a fictional setting to illustrate this. 
The writing is excellent and it is that alone that drew me through the story. The plot is almost non-existent. I found it quite disappointing.

Review published on Goodreads on April 11th 2017

'Birdcage Walk' by Helen Dunmore 

3 stars/ 6 out of 10

I have read several earlier novels by Helen Dunmore, and so was interested in reading this latest novel of hers.

The novel is set in Bristol, England, at the time of the French Revolution. The main character in the novel is Lizzie, daughter of a radical mother (whose life and activities remind me of Mary Wollstonecraft) and wife of a builder (whose views are very different from those of Mary's family).

Although this novel is interesting enough, I don't feel that is up to the same high standard as some of Dunmore's earlier novels, such as The Betrayal and The Siege. The part that I found most interesting in this book was not, in fact, linked in any way to the political situation being described therein. Instead it was the relationships that Lizzie had with her mother and her mother's friends, juxtaposed with her relationship with her husband, and how she managed any conflicts between the two, and how she developed as a person throughout the book. I also thought the descriptions of nature in the book were very good.

One aspect of the book that I was rather surprised by, is that Dunmore, near to the beginning of the novel, clarified something that could in fact have been an interesting mystery throughout the book.  I don't really understand her reasons for doing this; I think it would interesting for the reader to try to solve this mystery.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and to NetGalley for an ARC.

For the first time ever I find myself disappointed by a Helen Dunmore novel. This one just didn’t do it for me and I even found myself skipping bits. It has all the ingredients of a really good book but somehow doesn’t live up to the premise. Set in Bristol, with the French Revolution casting a shadow in the background, it’s narrated by Lizzie, a newly married young woman, torn between her love and attraction to her rather menacing husband, and her idealistic pamphleteer mother. The husband, Diner – why such a strange name? – is a speculative builder at a period when there’s been a great building boom in Bristol but the row of houses he’s building above Clifton Gorge has been hit by the downturn in the market due to European uncertainty. The tension builds as bankruptcy looms. It’s an interesting period in Bristol's history and much of the novel I found interesting from an historical point of view. Dunmore, as we might expect, doesn’t shy away from describing daily life and the period details are evocative and atmospheric. But it’s the characterisation that didn’t work for me. Diner I found very difficult to get to know, and although Lizzie’s is a vibrant character, I never felt any great connection with her. The plot, such as it is, is rather drawn out and the ending unsatisfactory. So all in all, not up to Dunmore’s usual high standard.

<
Dunmore's The Siege is one of my favourite historical novels so I had high hopes for this psychological thriller set in Bristol at the time of the French Revolution. Lizzie, the daughter of a radical brought up to believe in the fight for equality equality, has married Diner, a widower, with a completely different upbringing. While Lizzie has always been secure in her mother's love, even when times are hard, Diner pushes himself to make his fortune through house building as he strives to rise above his harsh upbringing. as events in France lead to uncertainty so Diner's hopes of making his fortune from the beautiful crescent of houses he's. building with borrowed money disappear. The stress of it all leads to him becoming more unbalanced as Lizzie slowly uncovers the mystery of his first wife's death leading to a terrifying showdown as Diner's world collapses around him.<br />Beautifully written as always but I think I would have enjoyed it more if Diner's first wife's death hadn't been revealed before the story began. I felt it lost some of the buildup of tension in the process.

"You have nothing of your own. You are my wife. All that you have belongs to me. All that you are belongs to me."

After a slightly slow and awkward start (a framing narrative in the present that simply disappears), this is a wonderfully gripping and intelligent read. On one level, not much actually happens; on another, we have an intimate portrait of Lizzy Fawkes who traverses marriage and a kind of quasi-motherhood, emerging stronger, perhaps more cynical, but also enlightened by the end. 

Set against a background of the French Revolution, the book juxtaposes questions of idealism vs. disillusionment and makes them play out on both a public and private stage. The revolution which is supposed to herald liberty, fraternity and universal suffrage (though, let's be clear, Tom Paine, an offstage character throughout, only applies human 'rights' to men, property owners, people of the 'correct' religion... but that's by the way and not in the book) descends into political rivalry, mass violence and unending bloodshed; while the idealising union of marriage also reveals its increasingly dark and menacing side.

Lizzy Fawkes' mother and step-father reminded me of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, though Lizzy herself is no Mary Shelley. And one of the great strengths of the book is its refusal to offer up too patterned or neat a narrative. There are lots of 'issues' here (social equality, relations between men and women, marriage, love, violence, capitalism) but they feel natural and unforced, an intricate part of the story being told rather than hijacking the tale.

Dunmore's writing is graceful throughout, restrained and unshowy but always precise and controlled. And there is humour here, too, at the 'champagne radical' who talks of social justice while looking down on the maids and only using the best candles...

This isn't a long book but it is a rich one, with a grip that we don't always find in 'literary' fiction: 4.5 stars for a story which I gulped down in 2 sittings.