Singing Bird

I loved this book and couldn't anticipate how it would resolve. You are swept up with the story line and the characters and feel you are part of the action. I have never been to Ireland but it truly came alive as the main character travels around the country. I am recommending it to all my reader friends.

Roisin McAuley's affecting and poignant first novel, "Singing Bird," is an engrossing story of a mother and daughter who were both adopted as babies. The mother, Lena Molloy, waited until adulthood to inquire about her birth parents, but she was unable to learn who they were. Mary, the daughter whom Lena adopted in Ireland, seems content with the idea that she may never know who gave her up for adoption. At twenty-seven, Mary is now a talented and beautiful singer who is a rising star in the opera world. Lena and her husband Jack are about to move into a new home, and they are looking forward to retirement in a few years. They are financially successful and have a second home in France. Lena and Jack have had a good marriage and they are bursting with pride at their daughter's success in the music world. Suddenly, Lena gets a phone call from the nun who gave Mary to her so many years ago. This phone call turns Lena's life upside down. She makes the fateful decision to take a vacation in Ireland with her friend, Alma. While in Ireland, Lena plans to spend some time searching for the names of Mary's birth parents. Lena has no idea that by doing so, she may be playing with fire. "Singing Bird" is filled with vivid and intriguing characters. Lena is an adoring wife and mother who has a hole in her heart because she longs to know the names of her natural parents. Her curiosity about her own origins drives her to learn about her daughter's birth parents, as well. Other memorable characters are Sister Monica, the crusty nun who contacts Lena after twenty-seven years of silence, and Alma, Mary's intelligent and often sarcastic best friend, who is unhappily involved in a dead-end affair with a married man. McAuley is a natural storyteller. Her writing flows effortlessly, and she uses foreshadowing very cleverly to give the reader small clues about what is to come. "Singing Bird" has romance, gentle humor, beautiful descriptive writing about Ireland, and heart-tugging suspense. As Lena gets closer to the truth, the book is impossible to put down. The biggest weaknesses in "Singing Bird" are the author's use of coincidence and her slightly pat ending. However, these small flaws do not detract from the warmth and compassion of this compelling story that will touch many readers, whether they are adopted or not. "Singing Bird" is a wonderful achievement by a very gifted writer.

When Lena Malloy receives a mysterious phone call from the nun who arranged the adoption of her daughter some 27 years ago, Lena decides to find out just who were the parents of little Mary were. With her husband on an extended business trip, the timing seems perfect. However, what Lena slowly unfolds is a mystery far more troubling than she had ever expected. Indeed, she ends up learning to, "Be care what you ask, it might not turn out the way you intended." This is a touching story about gain and loss, about learning things you didn't want to know, and how you go on. I would like to say something profound at this point, but I really can't think of anything to say. Ms. McAuley writes with a power and emotion that is a little hard to describe in pithy little comments. Suffice it to say that this is a very touching and even suspenseful story, as you strive to unravel the mystery with Lena. I loved this book, and highly recommend it to you.

SINGING BIRD is lovely, singing novel by Roisin McAuley. A debut novel, this, though one would never guess that were it not for the jacket mini-biography. McAuley has a grace with words, a gift for writing conversation that has few peers, and at the end of the day she is one fine storyteller! Here is a manner of writing that is fluid, conversational, terse, yet always incorporating mood and locale and atmosphere, all of which serve McAuley well in telling this story about seeking personal history/genetic identity/familial belonging. Briefly, we meet a happy British family unit, composed of Lena (herself an adopted child who never was bale to connect with her birth parents), Jack (her loving husband who spends much of his life on business trips), and Mary (the daughter adopted at birth from a home for wayward girls in Ireland). When Lena receives a mysterious message from one Sister Monica, who ran the Catholic home offering Mary for adoption, wheels are set in motion that encourage Lena to attempt to discover the birth parents of her Mary - a love mission she was never able to accomplish for her own parents. Mary is a gifted young opera singer and has a life (somewhat secret) of her own. Circumstances collide when Mary calls from San Francisco Opera that she will be leaving her engagement for an important European tour with the Frankfort Symphony. Lena, accompanied by her close friend Alma (finishing an affair with a married man), travel to Ireland for a holiday with the goal of hearing Mary in concert in Dublin, but with the true quest to search for Mary's birth parents. McAuley whips this intrigue into a complex puzzle of discoveries and their consequences - facts that her detective work uncovers feats and defeats and result in information about Lena's world that challenges her belief system, her religious views, and her personal life. Enough said: more hints would taint this finely wrought tale. McAuley has some of the powers of such varied authors as Agatha Christie, Alice Munro, E. Annie Proulx - to mention only a few who are well known for their ability to churn up exciting, suspenseful yet human tales. One of the glories of this book is McAuley's ability to address contemporary issues that affect us all without a hint of preaching. She creates characters (even her minor characters are well carved creatures) who are wholly credible, three dimensional, and pertinent to the course of the complete tale. Roisin McAuley has the gift and from the seeds sewn here, it would appear there are many more fine stories in her beautifully tended garden just waiting for their moment to bloom. Highly recommended. Grady Harp

Twenty-seven years have passed since Lena and Jack Molloy adopted Mary, who has become a famous opera singer. Sister Monica of Saint Joseph's Home calls out of nowhere insisting she is tying up loose ends before retiring and just wanted to check up on her "babies". Lena's stomach pinches as she has not heard from the nun since the adoption, but apparently the call was innocent. With Jack on a business trip and Mary in Dublin for a performance, Lena decides to travel from California to West Ireland where they adopted their child. She always regretted not knowing her own biological parents having been adopted herself and rationalizes the trek by convincing herself she will be doing Mary a favor. With her friend Alma accompanying her, Lena begins making inquiries into who were Mary's parents, but her fist inclination challenges her deep rooted Catholic beliefs while further evidence confronts her moral family values. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. SINGING BIRD is an interesting social drama that leaves the audience pondering difficult ethics questions that run the gamut of some of the deep social issues facing society today. Through her heroine, Roisin McAuley raises questions about the sexual promiscuity of priests and nuns, family values, truth, and adoption. Though solutions seem intended to fit book size so are too straightforward for the complex questions raised, readers will obtain a deep character study that entertains yet challenges the audience. Harriet Klausner