If you loved The Beekeeper of Aleppo, you’ll love this one. I’m always a bit nervous to read the second book of an author new to me but this book delivers. Songbirds is similarly about migration and crossing borders in search of freedom and/or a better life. If anything, this book is not quite as dark as The Beekeeper and I found it a much easier and faster read. It didn’t quite break my heart like Beekeeper, but it definitely pulled my heart strings.
I knew nothing about Cyprus before this reading experience and I love to learn so that was a definite bonus for me. There are also a few lessons on birds and poaching that were enlightening.
The alternating first person narratives was a wonderful way to tell this sad tale about a missing “domestic”. The contrast is so intriguing; one narrator, Yiannis, is deep in love and the other, Petra, really only knows Nisha as an employee. Petra’s empathy and appreciation for all Nisha has done for her and her daughter grows throughout the book and I found her voice very compelling. She becomes so aware of how she didn’t even treat Nisha as a human as she tries to locate her, first for her own selfish reasons and then because it’s the right thing to do. As her eyes open so do ours and we see the unseen; the migrants who do all the work we don’t want to do. The fact that this is based on a true story is not at all surprising, but it is sobering. I really appreciated the author’s note for those additional details.
Although we never meet Nisha, who is probably the main character of this novel, we get to know her very well through these two narrators and through her interactions with Petra’s daughter and her letters to her own daughter.
I loved this book. Illuminating, insightful, real, it is a love story as well as a lesson on how one life lost impacts so many lives for the better. Yiannis does the right thing. Petra becomes a better mom. The plight of the migrant is brought forward. This book is never preachy, even with the illegal poaching aspect, and ultimately all the characters grow and feel and we as readers do too. I loved it! Thanks for the advance copy.

After The Beekeeper of Aleppo, I was incredibly excited to read Leferti’s newest novel. And I’m happy to say that it did not disappoint.

I enjoyed how she took on the theme of migration and borders in a different way, inspired by stories she heard from migrant workers in Cyprus. Rather than claiming to speak for these women herself, she uses two characters who live in Cyprus, as they search for a missing Sri Lankan woman they both love.

The theme of songbirds throughout was incredibly effective, including the way these birds served as a mirror to the migrant women themselves. However, I could have done without some of the more graphic scenes of poaching birds.

Overall, a touching novel that speaks to many of the same themes as Beekeeper in a new context.

This book tells the stories of both migrants and birds, stopping for awhile on an island. They both arrive full of hope but often have sad fates. The author weaves together tales from alternating POVs that are at the same time beautiful and heartbreaking. My one criticism is just the overall slow pacing of the story and how I just kept wanting more to happen, but most of the characters seemed indifferent. Which might be the point.

Songbirds is about Nisha, who leaves Sri Lanka to work in Cyprus to support her family. When Nisha suddenly vanishes without a trace, the police brush it off. The story is told through the eyes of her employer and lover as they search for Nisha and learn more about the love, loss, and sacrifices in her life along the way.

Don’t expect a fast-paced investigative story. This is a beautifully written journey of two people seeking justice for Nisha while they reflect on their own lives as well. The tender moments and little details are what make this story so poignant. I choose those over the “thrill” of a mystery any day.

The ending felt a bit rushed, but I really wanted more overall. I was so invested in Nisha (who reminded me of my mom, so I’m biased) that I almost didn’t want resolution so the book would continue.

Songbirds was inspired by true events in Cyprus and the prejudices that leave domestic workers vulnerable and ignored. As always, I urge you to read author’s note to learn more.

I highly recommend this moving novel which comes out August 3!

This novel has to do with choices. This novel has to do with ways we grieve. And I suppose this novel also has to do with the unforeseen result of taking what appears to be the best choice in a given situation.

Just as Irish immigrants indentured themselves to come to this country following the potato famine 150 (or so) years ago, young Asian women (according to this book) are contracting themselves to an agent who will place them with European employers to escape the extreme poverty of their various nations. In this scenario the women engage the services of an agent who will place them. The employer will then provide food, housing, salary and training as long as the employed one proves satisfactory. The servant can send part of her salary back to her family in Asia, but must continue to pay back the enormous fee of her agent. So in essence, the contract never becomes paid because of her extreme indebtedness to her agent. Also, some employers are good and some are bad.

In this book our Asian protagonist, Nisha, is from Sri Lanka and is widowed with her mother and child depending on her support. She is placed with a newly widowed and pregnant woman on the island of Cyprus. The woman, Petra, is quite wealthy. The story begins after she has been employed there 9 years as a maid and as a nanny to the child.

The third major player in this novel is Yiannis who lost his [excellent] job as a bank executive and subsequently his wife and children due to a major economic crash. After quite some time searching for employment, he falls into a trap of illegal activities with his childhood buddy, Sebastian.

This novel is deeply felt and quite thought provoking. It is told in beautiful prose with rich descriptions. There are many comparisons and contrasts to ponder. The most obvious, I suppose, is the routes our 3 main characters take in their grief. Another would be in the opportunities the 3 have for supporting themselves – and their children.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Ballantine. This review is entirely voluntary and my own thoughts.

✨“Songbirds”✨ by Christy Lefteri
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This book is the story of Nisha told from the perspective of Petra and Yiannis, the chapters go back and forth between them. Nisha goes out one night and vanishes without a trace. Both Petra and Yiannis go on the journey of trying to figure out what happened to her, and why no one knows what happened to her. This book puts focus on our flawed society and civilization.
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Migrants often leave their homes, family, country, everything that is life as they know it, to go to a different country. They are judged for it but do we stop to think that they feel they have no other choice? I think it’s a beautiful story that makes us realize that regardless of where you come from we all are beautiful, that we all have hope and dreams…. We need to live each other regardless of the color of our skin, our skin tone, and what economic “class” we belong to.

Songbirds is a beautifully written book.. It started rather slowly but drew me in as the story progressed. We are introduced to the island of Cyprus where Songbirds takes place. Nisha is born in Sri Lanka but after her husband died she can not find work that will support her child and her mother. She makes the hard decision to go to Cyprus and becomes a servant/nanny leaving her two year old child and mother behind. The story is told by Petra, Nishsa's employer and Yiannis who rents the upstairs flat.

The character development is good and the descriptions make the story come alive. I liked the story but I was confused by the occasional short interludes that came between the two points of view. Everything becomes clear by the end of the book, for this reason my rating is four stars.

3.8. I really liked Christy Lefteri's debut novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, on the plight of Syrian refugees, so I was excited to receive an advance copy of this book. Although not as captivating to me as her first novel, this is an interesting story but for me failed to truly capture the essence of the story until the end. As in her debut novel, the prose in The Songbirds is beautiful. This new novel focuses on women migrants, however, and the enormous sacrifices, prejudices, discrimination, and difficulties encountered by them to make a better life for themselves and their families from the relentless inability to survive in their home countries. The analogy of these women to songbirds is striking. The novel takes place in Cyprus, and Ms. Lefteri perfectly captured the raw beauty of the island where one feels transported there in her prose. The plot focuses on the disappearance of a Sri Lankan domestic worker, Nisha, with the story woven between the voices of the woman's employer, Petra, and a poacher (formerly a successful banker until the Great Recession, Yiannis, and how they both try to investigate Nisha's disappearance. The characters are very well defined,. However, I did find it hard to stay engaged in the novel until the end. Nonetheless, an interesting read. I did receive an advance copy of the book in exchange for a candid and unbiased review.

Christy Lefteri in Songbirds brought me to a place in the world I didn’t know much about. She drew me in immediately, educating me as she tells this story of events in Cyprus involving the disappearance of foreign female domestic help. Songbirds impressively deals with important topics deftly and elegantly. This is a beautifully written must read.

This book is a triumph. I was a super fan of the Bee Keeper of Aleppo and this follow-up is just as magical and poignant. Lefteri is a true artist, and her prose and characters are spell-binding. I’m so happy to be able to spread the love for this gorgeous novel. Bravo indeed.

The author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo brings us a beautiful new book. Songbirds, a beautiful novel about the dissappearance of a Sri Lankan domestic worker and the vulnerability of such workers.

Inspired by a real-life disappearance of domestic workers in Cyprus.

Nisha is living on the island of Cyprus. A long way from home. While her heart is in Sri Lanka with her daughter, she must stay here as a carer for another woman and her child. She is here for the money.

Yiannis has a crush on Nisha. He is also trapping protected songbirds and selling them on the black market. This is a non-starter for Nisha. He tells her he will stop when he has enough money to marry her and care for her. Nisha is too smart for this and it breaks her heart to see the tiny birds so cruelly captured and killed.

But one night, Nisha makes the family dinner, cleans up, and leaves on an errand only to disappear.

The police are not interested in searching for her so her employer, Petra, investigates. She goes to the neighborhood where other workers live and finds a much darker side to these migrant workers' lives. Leaving them vulnerable to the most horrible crimes and treatment.

This book made me smarter and broke my heart. Such beautiful stories are often the hardest to read. But they are also the most rewarding.

NetGalley/August 3, 2021, RHPG-Ballentine

This was a sad book about being trapped in circumstances beyond your control. Based on the real story of the disappearance of domestic workers in Cyprus, the book was well researched. It was a little slow but you begin to feel as desperate as Petra and Yiannis in finding Nisha.

Set on the island of Cyrus, Songbirds is a lyrical book filled with love, hope and heartbreak. It is the story of Nisha who left behind a daughter in Sri Lanka to become a domestic worker for Petra. She cleans the house, cooks meals and cares for Petra's daughter after Petra's husband dies. Told in the dual perspectives of Petra and Yiannis, Songbirds starts on the day Nisha disappears and the ripples this has.

I went into this one completely blind after loving The Beekeeper of Aleppo last year. After reading the Author's note in which she talks about the real life disappearances of domestic workers in Cyprus. I highly recommend this book because the subject matter is just so important to learn about.

Loss is suffered in so many ways. There is loss of family, loss of loved ones, loss of jobs and loss of oneself. Nisha leaves her infant daughter to be a maid in Cyprus for a widowed woman with a baby. She loves the child as she loves her own. She also falls in love with a man who has lost his sense of self. When Nisha goes missing, she leaves a void in their lives that cannot be filled. It is only when she is missing, that Petra, the woman she works for, realizes how little she new about the young woman that spent ten years in her home. How sad that we are often so self absorbed. This book is written with exquisite language that is savored within every page. I highly recommend this book and thank Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read the advanced copy.

This is a heartbreaking story which leads the reader to examine his or her own behaviors, as influenced by prejudices. Widowed Nisha leaves behind her home country of Sri Lanka and her family, including her young daughter, in order to work as a maid to Petra and nanny to Petra’s daughter on Cyprus. It is only when Nisha, (on whom the also widowed, grieving Petra relied completely), disappears that Petra begins to see Nisha as a person with her own needs,troubles, losses and sorrows.

Absolutely beautiful, Lefteri has done it again with another incredible novel.
This novel is so well written, it feels as if you have leaped into the book and can hear the songbirds, see the garden and the red lake.
This book will break your heart! But man it was worth it!

What an unusual, memorable story! The author writes this tale with compassion and consideration and I felt I earned a lot from a perspective I didn't know much about. I'll definitely keep an eye on this author for future reads!

According to the author Christy Lefteri, "Songbirds is a story about way in which systemic racism exists, often unquestioned, relying on prejudice and nationalistic ideals to survive. It is a story about learning to see each and everywoman being in the same way we see ourselves." This is the best description that I could give about this book.
It is an eye-opening , heart-breaking tale of migration, systemic racism, hope and love.It opens the readers eyes to how blind one can be to all that may be going on around them. One must look and act on what they see rather than just accept. Is it easy to accept something that is immoral or wrong because it is considered the rule of thumb by the majority of a population. It also makes the reader aware of the many ways that a person can be trapped. Being trapped whether it be animals or people is an on-going theme throughout. What can be done about breaking those bonds. Another theme is love ; familial love, parental love, friendship love, romantic love, even love of life. Although a person may experience immeasurable grief, it is important to show a loving face and attitude toward children so that they can learn hope and realize that love can exist in the world .
The book reads beautifully, albeit slightly slow, but well worth the read. I believe that it would be a great book for a book club suggestion. I also believe that it would be a great addition to a high school reading/ discussion list. Many of our eyes need to be opened.
#Songbirds #NetGalley

I received a free electronic ARC of this wonderful novel as a Publisher gift (thru Netgalley) from author Christy Lefteri and RandomHouse - Ballantine Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I follow Christy Lefteri since I read her novel 'The Beekeeper of Allepo'. She writes a fine tale with personable protagonists and her stories are all heart.

'Songbirds' is a novel that will keep you tense and tied to this book until there is no more to read. It is a novel I am pleased to recommend to friends and family, especially in this world we live in today, with pandemic limitations and massive numbers of families worldwide who are living the life of the nomad, with no place to call home and no pillow on which to lay their heads. We are not done until no child goes to bed hungry, no family has to huddle in tents or caves simply to exist. Our world is in the control of short-sighted, non-caring tenders for the most part, and they grow stronger every day. Only we who care can save it.

And no one can do full justice to the description of 'Songbirds' better than the author herself. In her author's note following the end of this work, she tells us, "Songbirds is a story about migration and crossing borders. It is about searching for freedom, for a better life, only to find oneself trapped. It is a story about the way in which systemic racism exists, often unquestioned, relying upon prejudice and nationalistic ideals to survive. It is a story about learning to see each and every human being in the same way as we see ourselves." Christy Lefteri

I loved Lefteri's previous work so I was very excited to read her newest work. Sadly, I just couldn't get into this book. However, Lefteri's ability paint a scene continues to be a sincere pleasure, her writing skill takes me away to faraway places. So while I didn't connect with some aspects of this novel, I did throughly enjoy her skilled craft of words. Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC.