The Conjurer's Bird

Martin Davies has taken a scant few scraps of historical fact and from them woven an intriguing literary mystery that moves smoothly between several subplots and keeps one turning the pages to see what's going to happen next. Davies builds the central theme of his novel on Joseph Banks, a naturalist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery in 1768-71. For reasons that remain a mystery, Banks, who had been preparing to sail with Cook on his second voyage, suddenly declined to participate and broke off his engagement to a woman named Harriet Blosset. At the end of Cook's voyage, Joseph Forster, who replaced him as naturalist, presented Banks with the only known specimen of a thrush-like bird found on the island of Ulieta in the Pacific. Utilizing speculation from a gossip magazine of the period, Davies develops a mistress with whom Banks falls in love as the reason for his having deserted Cook and for breaking off his engagement. A second theme of the novel is the quest of John Fitzgerald, a modern-day naturalist, to find the bird of Ulieta before it falls into the hands of several greedy collectors who have more than science on their minds. Adding spice to this mix is the fact one of the collectors is assisted by Fitzgerald's wife while the naturalist is aided by a student-boarder who becomes integral to the chase and his life. Chapters alternate between the modern and historical events, though the transition is easy in Davies' smooth and lyrical prose. There is a third theme in the novel involving Fitzgerald's grandfather and his fanatical quest to find the Congo peacock, a bird actually discovered by James Chapin, an American naturalist. Davies, a BBC producer, previously penned a couple of historical mysteries involving Sherlock Holmes' housekeeper. I haven't read those but plan to now.

The Conjurer's Bird is actually two stories in one, both very well written. First we have a modern day mystery, a search for a mysterious bird, long lost. Secondly, the author gives us a rather nice Victorian love story. Both stories of course are linked and run parallel, one making the other more interesting, and in fact are quite necessary. The author is quite a good story teller and certainly has done some research. The entire work is rather low keyed, an easy read and, as I said, quite enjoyable. Character developement is better in this work than some of the others in this particular genre I have read. Several of the key characters are based on real people and having read biographies on all of them, found the author held pretty true with his characterization of them. While not what I would call a thriller by any means, it was one of those books I hated to put down and looked forward to the next chapter. Of course I am a birder and love Victorian stories and love history, so this was more or less my cup of tea. Those that enjoyed this one might like to check out The Darwin Conspiracy by John Darnton. All in all I enjoyed this work very much and highly recommend it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has a lot a similarities to Byatt's "Possession," without all the Victorian poetry to slog through, and a more accessible feel. The storyline switches back and forth from modern-day Fitz, trying to track down the rarest bird specimen in the world, and the story of Joseph Banks, naturalist on James Cook's exploration.

The Conjurer's Bird is a terrific book, and I had a lot of fun reading it. It took off from page one, and I read the book in two sittings. Davies takes some true facts, and spins them into a wonderful fictional account of a search for a long missing bird, the "Mysterious Bird of Ulieta" Summary, no spoilers: The story starts out with natural history professor John (Fitz) Fitzgerald, working in his cluttered office. He gets a phone call from a woman from his past named Gabby. He meets up with Gabby and her new boyfriend, Karl Anderson, who makes an offer to Fitz of a substantial amount of money for his help in finding the missing "Mysterious Bird of Ulieta". The bird was seen only once, in 1774 when Captain Cook led an expedition to the island of Ulieta in the South Pacific. The bird was preserved, but then lost. The recovery of this missing specimen had become a holy grail for naturalists and scientists. Fitz refuses to help Karl, but then decides to search for the bird himself, with the aid of his tenant, Katya. The story then takes off, with multiple parties searching for this mysterious bird, although we know that there may be motivations that haven't been disclosed. The story is told in alternating chapters, first taking place in the present, and then going back to the times of Captain Cook, and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, who was the last person known to have the bird. Fitz and the others know that Banks is the key to the mystery, along with his mistress, the mysterious "Miss B". Highly recommended, this book is a real page-turner with a satisfying ending. Well done.

On Captain Cook's second voyage a small bird is captured and preserved. Only one of its kind was seen and hence it was immediately recognized as "special" and returned to England. This should scratch on our 21st century sensibilities....a rare bird that is "killed" to preserve it. Hmmm. The bird is dubbed the bird of Ulieta and is given to Sir Joseph Banks and immediately becomes the center of his collection. Then, the bird disappears. Fast forward to modern day London. A modern day conservationist, John Fitzgerald, is encouraged to search for the lost bird of Ulieta. Some want to add the DNA of the bird to the Ark Gene Project. Fitz quickly realizes that there is more going on than just the search for the lost bird. Several plot lines emerge over the the course of the story and this is where Davies really shines. The Conjurer's Bird was a pleasant surprise. I stayed up way too late and suffered for it the next day but it was worth it. Martin Davies' The Conjurer's Bird is a terrific read that will hold the reader spellbound and will not disappoint. Davies' first two novels, Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar Rose and Mrs. Hudson and the Spirits' Curse, have been popular with our library patrons. I anticipate that the Conjurer's Bird will quickly catch on and may even generate a waiting list. I highly recommend this novel.