Description
Birds can save people's lives. You may think that's a strange thing to say. How can a small animal with wings save a person? But I know they can. It happened to me.
When Millie was nine years old her mum got sick, very sick. And now, on the night of Millie's tenth birthday party, things are getting serious. Millie sits on the back step of her house, worried and upset, and two shiny black crows fly into the yard, catching her attention.
Do they just want some of the cheeseburger she's attempting to eat? Or are they visiting for some other reason?
Before long Millie starts to find mysterious objects in the garden. And the crows are often there when she comes home from school.
What are they trying to tell her? And can they help her as she faces losing her mum?
Caroline Stills's debut novel, A Gift from the Birds, is a sensitive, heartfelt story about loss and grief, and finding comfort in unexpected places.
Review
This is a wonderful debut novel from Melbourne author Caroline Stills, previously known for producing picture books, and it was the final winner of the Text Prize for unpublished manuscripts.
Amelia Jane Smith, aka Millie, is the centre of our story. At the age of nine, Millie’s Mum was diagnosed with cancer, but Millie thought she would get better and that chemotherapy, her hair falling out and a lot of vomiting were just temporary while she recovered. Millie has an amazing 10th birthday with all of her friends over, but when the party ends her Mum goes back to the hospital, and she never gets out.
Millie and her Dad are devastated by her death. They try to regain their footing, but Mum was the family glue and without her things seem hopeless.
Millie has her art, which goes through a really dark patch, that her amazing art teacher tells her is fabulous. And then she has her crows. Every time she feeds them they leave her a sparkly present the next day. Her Dad doesn’t think that she should feed wildlife, but when he sees the connection that Millie has with the birds he joins in with the feeding, but only on the weekends and only food that crows can eat.
When three baby crows arrive to broaden their family, Millie and her Dad start to see themselves as their own new family, just the two of them - even though they miss Mum.
This is a touching and uplifting book tackling the difficult topic of the loss of a parent through the eyes of a 10-year-old. It deals with grief and loss, but also shows that through everyday things like art and connecting with nature you can find a path back to happiness- albeit, a hard path. This will be most appreciated by readers aged 9 to 12 years.
