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  • Published: 7 May 2019
  • ISBN: 9781784163495
  • Imprint: Black Swan
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $27.99

Call of the Curlew



A gorgeous, atmospheric debut novel of secrets and fateful decisions, set in the Essex marshes.

'Unforgettable' - ROSAMUND LUPTON
Virginia Wrathmell has always known she will meet her death on the marsh.

One snowy New Year's Eve, at the age of eighty-six, Virginia feels the time has finally come.

New Year's Eve, 1939. Virginia is ten, an orphan arriving to meet her new parents at their mysterious house, Salt Winds. Her new home sits on the edge of a vast marsh, a beautiful but dangerous place. War feels far away out here amongst the birds and shifting sands - until the day a German fighter plane crashes into the marsh. The people at Salt Winds are the only ones to see it.

What happens next is something Virginia will regret for the next seventy-five years, and which will change the whole course of her life.

  • Published: 7 May 2019
  • ISBN: 9781784163495
  • Imprint: Black Swan
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $27.99

About the author

Elizabeth Brooks

ELIZABETH BROOKS grew up in Chester, and read Classics at Cambridge. Her debut novel CALL OF THE CURLEW was shortlisted for the Waverton Good Reads award. The setting for her new novel, THE LISTENING HOUSE, is a manor house named Byrne Hall and is inspired by the home of Agatha Christie. It is full of dark corners and old portraits that carry untold stories of their subjects. Elizabeth Brooks lives on the Isle of Man with her husband and children.

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Praise for Call of the Curlew

An atmospheric, beautifully paced novel about sacrifice, the urge to belong and revenge. It's full of well-drawn characters I loved to hate, and those that I didn't want to let go, even after I closed the last page.

CLAIRE FULLER

Melodic and beautiful

Prima

Like Daphne du Maurier…powerfully conjures up a place, a time, and a story that are unforgettable.

ROSAMUND LUPTON

Really special

Good Housekeeping

A twisty, atmospheric treat.

Woman & Home

A beautifully written, atmospheric novel -- reminiscent of Jane Eyre... bewitching and haunting

EOWYN IVEY