Eva MEIJER : Bird cottage

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.

 

I first learned this book existed when I watched this video from Lucy the Reader :

 

I couldn't wait to read it yet waited until this week : waiting was a part of the anticipated pleasure.

Somehow, as I began reading, I didn't "feel" the story, I seemed to be watching it from afar, it was so disappointing and it took me some time to get into it. The fact that it was a novel through and through and not a biography threw me off some, I guess, and Len Howard's family was not overly affectionate. I understand why she moved away as soon as she could. Anyway, the story quickly grew on me.

Len (Gwendolen) earned her life as a violonist in a famous London orchestra but finally, she left everything to live in peace in the country, as far as possible from everybody but mostly close to the birds, especially Great Tits. Her father used to take care of birds and Len always took an interest in them, cared for them, read a lot about them.

She bought a small house where she intended to study birds. She left her windows open so the birds could come and go, she had a special table dedicated to them with food to help them, she tried to get hold of butter during the second world war so her birds could get some fat and survive the winters. They flew and landed on her hands, her head, sometimes took a nap in her lap.

What's more impressive, she taught a few to tap a certain number of times, first by example, then only by saying the number of taps needed before they could get a treat. Star, her favourite Great Tit, understood her voiced numbers perfectly. Len studied their songs, what it could mean, studied the music notes they produced. Since she wasn't a scientist, scientists didn't take her very seriously, they thought her articles were anthropomorphic, that she was a strange woman living alone and thinking she could communicate with birds. She had a great relationship with birds, they came to her for help, she orchestrated her life so that they could live in peace and not be disturbed, as much as possible.

However, she wrote two major books, Living with birds and Birds as individuals that were huge successes not only in Great Britain but in the world, translated in several languages. She was interviewed, spoken of in newspapers, used all the influences she gained to protect her bird sanctuary. What's really strange is that nowadays, she's been totally forgotten, sadly. I tried to buy her books, they're not edited any more and could find only one second hand cheap enough that I could afford it, Living with birds. I couldn't buy Birds as individuals, but hope that the success of this novel will make them available again (I really do hope so !).

All this to say : this novel was a great discovery and I'm certain it will be one of my favourites of this year.

PS : for all those who haven't already seen it, take a look at this video :)