Description

‘Will break your heart and open your eyes’ Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

‘I’ve never read anything quite like Songbirds – a beautifully crafted novel.’ Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of Wish You Were Here.

Her courage to cross oceans.
Her hope for a better life.
Her love for a daughter, above all else.

Not all tragedies make headlines, not every voice is heard.

Nisha has crossed oceans to give her child a future. Now she spends her days caring for someone else’s daughter while her own waits for her return, half a world away.

For Petra, it is only natural to hire a domestic worker to keep her house clean and her family fed. Their lives have nothing in common, except the love they feel for their daughters.

Then one day, Nisha vanishes. No one cares about the disappearance of a foreign domestic worker, except Petra and Nisha’s secret lover, Yiannis, the only connection to her daughter back in Sri Lanka.

As Petra and Yiannis desperately search for Nisha, they realise how little they knew about her. What they uncover will change them both forever.

Inspired by true stories of love and loss, hope and refuge, this evocative masterpiece from the million-copy bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri, is an illuminating story of the power of the human spirit, and the enduring love of a mother for her child, that will stay with you long after you finish reading.

Praise for Christy Lefteri:

‘This thought-provoking novel of love loss and redemption is thoroughly sublime.’ Caroline Montague

‘Lefteri is an astonishing weaver of stories.’ Daljit Nagra

‘ . . . broke my heart and kept me turning the pages of her gorgeous novel well into the night.’ Alka Joshi, NYT-bestselling author of The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

‘Christy Lefteri has crafted a beautiful novel, intelligent, thoughtful, and relevant.’ Benjamin Zephaniah on The Beekeeper of Aleppo

‘ . . . it’s impossible not to be moved by Lefteri’s plea for humanity and perhaps inspired too.’ Observer, on The Beekeeper of Aleppo

‘Courageous, proactive, haunting.’ Heather Morris, on The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Publisher Review

Christy Lefteri is a courageous, provocative, haunting writer. Songbirds is a beautiful novel. It will break your heart and open your eyes. * Heather Morris * I've never read anything quite like Songbirds - a beautifully crafted novel that sits at the intersection of race and class. * Jodi Picoult * Christy Lefteri's painfully beautiful story about a voiceless immigrant, Nisha, whose selfless courage touches the lives of those around her, moved me from the first page to the last. This thought-provoking novel of love loss and redemption is thoroughly sublime * Caroline Montague * Lefteri is an astonishing weaver of stories that speak to the world with compassion. She is imaginatively daring as she is socially responsible in a compelling narrative from start to end and that kept me on the edge. * Daljit Nagra * Like the vulnerable songbirds trapped in mist nets, Lefteri's characters - women who leave foreign lands to work abroad and send money back home - broke my heart and kept me turning the pages of her gorgeous novel well into the night. * Alka Joshi, NYT-bestselling author of THE HENNA ARTIST and THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR * Christy Lefteri has crafted a beautiful novel, intelligent, thoughtful, and relevant. I'm recommending this book to everyone I care about. So, I'm recommending this book to you * Benjamin Zephaniah on The Beekeeper of Aleppo * The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a story of loss, love, resilience and hope. In the same school as the Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Kite Runner, it's impossible not to be moved by Lefteri's plea for humanity and perhaps inspired too * The Observer, on The Beekeeper of Aleppo * A hugely important novel for our times, this is a beautifully written and poignant tale of the best and worst of humanity * Sun, on The Beekeeper of Aleppo * Powerful, thought-provoking and beautifully crafted . . . unforgettable * Choice Magazine, on The Beekeeper of Aleppo * Courageous, proactive, haunting * Heather Morris, on The Beekeeper of Aleppo *