Zoey moves to charming Mallow Island hoping to learn about her mother, but finds strange little birds and quirky neighbors with secrets instead.

This book is a touching tale of found family and self-discovery. I loved every moment of it. It is contemporary fiction, but with a dash of the paranormal and a smattering of mysteries throughout. The little twists in the second half were excellent! I would recommend this to anyone who has ever struggled with self-acceptance, belonging, grief, and/or self-worth. It really is a beautiful book!

Even though I KNOW it doesn’t exist, I found myself googling Mallow Island just to be SURE sure that such a magical place wasn’t hidden in real life. I am a sucker for found family tropes, and the setting of this one in particular made it extra dreamy. Who wouldn’t want to live at The Dellawisp?! The “other birds” theme and the very last chapter will stay with me for a long time. Please read this book and let me know your thoughts!

Thank you to Sarah Addison Allen, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Before heading to college, Zoey moves to The Dellawisp in South Carolina, moving into the apartment that belonged to her deceased mother. In a very short time, Zoey makes friends with a few of the quirky neighbors and begins to build bonds. Throw in a few ghosts, an imaginary bird, a famous author and lots of family secrets and you have a wonderful Sarah Addison Allen book. So happy to see a new title from this author! Fans won't be disappointed.

A story about friends, families and ghosts. Seems kind of slapped together. I expected better. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I love the magical realism in the books by Sarah Addison Allen. Other Birds is no different. I fell in love with Mellow Island and the folks at the Dellawisp. Zoey moves to Mellow Island and the Dellawisp condo because it was left to her by her mother. Zoey lost her mother way too soon and she is seeking to find pieces of her mother there on the island. She meets her neighbors Mac, Camille, Fraiser and the recluse Lucy. When Lucy's sister Lizabeth dies Fraiser gives Zoey the job of cleaning out her apartment. Lizabeth was a bit of a hoarder and it's a great deal of work to set the place to rights. Missing an opportunity to get a job at a hotel after graduation Lizabeth's son Oliver comes home to the Dellawisp. There are ghosts and their stories, secrets and finding family the Dellawisp is a haven for those seeking connection. I love this book. It is a wonderful, engaging, magical tale that feels like meeting a new friend.

It's such a delight to have another Sarah Addison Allen book in the world. The Dellawisp is a charming setting and the birds are wonderful. Allen's writing is easy to sink into.

I enjoyed meeting this cast of characters. Other reviewers have mentioned that there are several viewpoints to track. At first, I was slightly disappointed. I was doing ok with Zoey and Charlotte and a ghost or two but then Mac popped up as a POV character and I sighed a little. It's a lot. But, honestly, it all works out in the end. I would advise readers to stick with it. You'll be able to keep them apart and the narrative will come together as a beautiful tapestry in the end.

A heartwarming read with a lot of charm.

Other Birds is my first experience with Sarah Addison Allen and I have a new author I adore. Other Birds introduces us to Zoey. The summer before she starts college she takes possession of her late mother's apartment in Mallow Island. It is there, at the Dellawisp, she meets her forever family. That is something she hasn't had since her mom passed away. Zoey falls in love with the quaint tow and the others who live in the complex with her. She helps them in a sense face their past and let go, preparing them to move forward in their future.

Other Birds was such a fascinating read about families and hanging on to the past, paralyzing our futures. Allen writing reads like a best friend telling you a story. You won't ever want her story to stop. I will definitely be looking for other works by Sarah Addison Allen and will be telling all my reading friends about Allen as well. Special Thanks to NetGalley, Sarah Addison Allen, and St. Martin's Press for the advance digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 5 stars for me

I really REALLY loved this book, and I honestly had my doubts after seeing such high praise. It deserves every bit of it. Hooked me from page one and kept me hooked the whole time!

In Allen fashion, this new novel delivers struggle, chosen family, magic, and a little romance.
Each character has mother issues and together they create a safe space to heal.

4.5 Stars

’Stories aren’t fiction. Stories are fabric. They’re the white sheets we drape over our ghosts so we can see them.’ - ROSE AVANGER, Sweet Mallow

’There are birds, and there are other birds. Maybe they don’t sing. Maybe they don’t fly. Maybe they don’t fit in. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be an other bird than just the same old thing.’

There’s a whimsical charm to this story, without being twee, set against what seems like an almost sinister aura, a darker, unveiled story.

This begins on Mallow Island, in South Carolina where Zoey goes that summer following the death of her mother many years before, who left her studio condo to Zoey. Zoey has memories of this place, memories of when she was there with her mother as a child, but that was long ago. In the interim years, she’d lived with her father and her step-mother, although it was a life that lacked even the most basic sense of care, or caring, for her or about her.

I adored Zoey, the quirky and cranky occupants of the neighboring condos. Zoey, jobless since she’s new there, is hired to help clean out one of the condos. It will help her to have something to do, along with some money, as she will be starting college in the fall. A deceased resident, Lizbeth Lime, who left behind piles and boxes of paper stacked so high they are hiding the walls behind them, and who knows what else in between. Her death likely due to her hoarding, one of her bookcases having fallen on her causing her death. Lizbeth’s sister Lucy still resides there, although not in Lizbeth’s condo, Lucy has her own condo. And now Zoey is tasked with going through every single piece of paper to make sure that nothing important is thrown out. The one thing that haunts her every day is that she is positive she locks the condo when she leaves, and yet it is unlocked when she returns to this task every morning.

The setting was lovely, it was easy to picture it all, the descriptions of the native plants, the birds, especially the dellawisps, the exquisitely tiny birds ’no bigger than ring boxes’ which are native to the island.

There are several other characters, including a famous author, some who bond with Zoey over time, and some stories from the past, as well. There’s the grief of loss, but there is also the magic of healing, and families created from love, sprinkled with a touch of magical realism.

An ode to family, the ones we create when the ones we’re born into are gone, or fail us, and the power of memories.


Pub Date: 13 Sep 2022

Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press

I've always loved Sarah Addison Allen's novels - they're whimsical and drenched with an ephemeral, mystical quality I just love - so I was excited to receive this ARC thanks to NetGalley.

I struggled a little getting into the book, but I was glad I stuck with it. The story is quite different than the author's previous books, and the stories that most of the characters share are seeped with a sadness that's palpable through the pages.

At the end, however, I truly felt hopeful for each of the characters in their search - and discovery - of finally being at home.

I loved Sarah Addison Allen's Sugar Queen, Garden Spells, and The Peach Keeper. They're the first three books on the shelves of my home library. I was so excited to receive a copy of Other Birds, Allen's latest novel. I was not disappointed. I'm a huge fan of magical realism, with Alice Hoffman being my gold standard. Sarah Addison Allen's Other Birds gives Hoffman a run for her money. I was hooked by the quirky characters and the unusual u-shaped converted stables that they live in. The ghosts added a wonderful layer to the story, giving the reader insight into the living. I thought about this novel long after it ended.

Other Birds was a magical book. It seemed a bit different from the author's previous stories. This story was well thought out and all the characters (the likeable and unlikable) were all well developed.

Really not sure what to think about this one. I've read everything by Sara Addison Allen and always loved it. I really felt like this was rushed at the end.

How utterly beautiful this story was: the author's tribute to her mother in her Acknowledgement brought tears to my eyes.

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This is a story about love: how the lack of it can drive you to madness; how the abuse of it can break your spirit and make you try to erase your painful memories with drugs and alcohol; how the false lure of it can make you forget your obligations and endanger those you should have been protecting. Both poverty and wealth left their scars on the hearts of many of the younger versions of the characters we meet in this spellbinding story...

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I loved the ghosts most of all! Lizbeth - that mean, unlovable curmudgeon! - was off the charts: a hoarder with a huge grudge against the world - and most especially against her sister, Lucy.

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Lucy's story, when you finally get to read it, will make you moan: this brutal, harsh world spares no one, it seems. Everyone looked the other way and young lives were damaged forever.

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Charlotte, Mac, Zoey and Oliver were all on a trajectory to finding family, acceptance and ultimately love in the oddball Dellawisp community. Frasier was the unwitting master hand that set the stage years ago when he gave the mentally unwell Lizbeth a job and a place to live in the Dellawisp condominium complex he managed. He saw a kindred tortured spirit in Lizbeth's young son, Oliver.

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I was completely entranced by this story, and can't wait to read more books by this author. I enjoyed every minute I spent on Mallow Island with this colourful band of misfit characters. I hope we get to hear about them in future publications by this author - they have become old friends!

I'm rating this gem of magical realism a 5 out of 5 totally well-deserved stars. There were so many praiseworthy and insightful passages that I've practically highlighted the entire book! Do yourself a favour and pick this one up, pronto! My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A close friend introduced Sarah Addison Allen to me years ago, and I fell in love with her strong female characters sprinkled with magic and poetic, almost ethereal, prose. It has been a long time between novels so when I came across a chance to review “Other Birds,” I felt as if I had won the lottery.

The novel opens as Zoey (with an empty bird cage housing Pigeon—don’t worry, you will figure it out) arrives in Mallow Island to live in her deceased mother’s studio as she waits to start college in the fall. Zoey’s anxious for any connection to her mother whose loss she is still mourning. As Zoey gets situated, she (and the reader) meet a delightful assortment of characters (and ghosts) in a tender story about loss, acceptance, and survival. This is one of those novels that you pause in amazement just to enjoy some of the descriptions and whimseys of delight. Usually, I am not crazy when a story switches between so many point of views but I enjoyed the voices of these unique (and in some cases, otherworldly) individuals.

It was difficult not to eat this book up since I’d been waiting for it for so long for it, but this was definitely a treat to savor. Whether you have been anticipating her next read or are new to the author, you will fall in love with Zoey and Co.

Thank you Sarah Addison Allen, Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to give this an early read.

This was my first time reading this author. I had heard about her writing and enjoyed the magical realism that she puts in her writing.

Overall, Other Birds was enjoyable and worth the read. I would definitely recommend it to others, especially those that may be in mourning or going through tough times. It’s able to touch on sensitive subjects without being over the top.
Although I do with some of the latter events weren’t so anticlimactic, the lack of anything too jaw dropping did give me the opportunity to really assess the meaning of the book.

**I received this advance copy free from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

2.5 ⭐️

Books with lots of magic or just a hint of it are things I seek out & I’ve long been a fan of Sarah Addison Allen’s swoony & magic-tinged fiction with romantic elements. So I’m sad to say that Allen’s upcoming release Other Birds unfortunately doesn’t work for me.

This book takes place on Mallow Island, a beloved place immortalized in a famous piece of literature authored by a now-semi-reclusive writer. There’s a set of condos on the island where various people & ghosts—the narrators of the book—come together to live & grow & eventually solve a mystery or two.

Featuring a couple of twists, a unique Southern setting, & found family, Other Birds also has Allen’s distinctive voice. I love how she renders the world full of possibility.

But the stories never fully come together for me in a way that’s moving. The characters feel somewhat flat for me & I was never fully invested in the story.

I’ll look forward to more books by the author in the hopes that I’ll love them more but this one isn’t a fave.

Release date: 09/13.


CWs: (please note that what follows is not an exhaustive list.) Past sexual abuse. One of the characters is from a cult where kids were abused & not given proper care or medical treatment; a kid died there due to the latter. Hoarding. The South feels pretty romanticized here. One of the characters—presumably a white woman—is also a henna artist, which I was concerned is cultural appropriation.

Other Birds
A Novel
by Sarah Addison Allen
Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways. Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother's apartment on Mallow Island, she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a girl on the run, two estranged middle-aged sisters, a lonely chef, and a legendary writer, and three ghosts. Each with their own story, Each with their own longings. Each whose ending isn't written yet.


I thought the book was ok. Not GREAt, just ok enough to finish. But, I am sure most really got into it.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Other Birds” is a character study in the “magical realism” genre (which is, quite honestly, a genre I didn’t know existed). The story begins by following Zoey, an eighteen-year-old girl striking out on her own and moving into her deceased mother’s apartment in The Dellawisp building on Mallow Island, South Carolina. The Dellawisp features four other apartments with singular seemingly secretive tenants and an enigmatic caretaker.

As the story progresses and the characters are introduced, the narrator perspective shifts, giving the reader a glimpse into each of the character’s lives. Tragedy soon strikes and one of the neighbors is lost. The events thereafter begin to unfold as the characters slowly become drawn to one another and their pasts are revealed. There’s a quirky artist with a shadowy past, a lonely chef, two estranged sisters, and the friendly caretaker. Then there are the ghosts that tag along behind some of them. As their pasts crash into their present situation, the characters’ relationships are developed and tested as the future unfurls before them.

The beginning of this book felt a bit slow, and I wasn’t sure at first if I would enjoy the novel. It didn’t take long, however, until I honestly struggled to put this book down. This enchanting book was a lovely character study. In presenting the lives of each of its quirky characters, this book explored many of life’s difficulties that readers can relate to. The exploration of the relationships, both past and present, is beautifully detailed. I fell in love with the characters and found myself cheering them on and dying to know what happened next.

Then there are the “magical realism” elements. From quirky birds (the dellawisps) who follow people like dogs and like to steal things, to an invisible bird, to ghosts who remain tethered to this world, this book covered quite a few magical elements. These elements didn’t detract from the book, however. Rather, these bits of magic added what I can only think to describe as color and texture to the narrative, rounding out the both the characters and the book.

Overall, this book quite frankly left me wanting to give it a hug! The story was engaging, the characters relatable and interesting, and the ending apropos. As I was reading it, I couldn’t wait to finish the book to see what happened, but I also didn’t want the book to end! I would highly recommend this book to all readers, both adult and young adult. If you’re a fan of magical realism, I’m certain you’ll love this. If you are a fan of well-developed, engaging character studies, you’ll definitely love this. If you just enjoy fiction in general, this book is for you. I feel it would quite simply appeal to everyone. I am definitely picking up a hard copy of this book when it is released, and I will be looking into other books by this author. It has been a while since a singular book has made me want to delve into a writer’s backlist, but this book was so enthralling that I can’t wait to dig into more works by this author. Read this book! I’m certain you’ll fall in love with the gang at The Dellawisp.