Birding

I have GULPED this novel down over the last couple of days. Birding gave me everything I want in a novel, including a massive, cathartic cry at the end. Achingly poignant, yet ultimately hopeful, with a worn out seaside town I can see so clearly

I've had my socks absolutely knocked off (again) by Rose Ruane's latest novel Birding. It made me rage, reflect, howl with laughing, worry and blub. Gentle, strong, important and hopeful. I am in awe and couldn't recommend it more highly

I wish I could write as vividly and wisely as Rose Ruane. A beautiful book full of stark truths about relationships and self, framed in poetry and underscored by perfect analogies that had me nodding along in recognition throughout. The physical world of the book is alive and the internal worlds of the characters are deeply felt, as we are invited into their darkest thoughts and feelings and, in a way, asked to consider and process ourselves. Lyrical and evocative, highly recommended - Evie King, author of Ashes to Admin

This unusual, uncomfortable novel is beautifully written - Daily Mail

Fine, fierce... [an] empathetic, emotional reckoning - Mail on Sunday

'The reader is always rooting for these women as they each arrive at their moments of reckoning... Birding is a sharp analysis of societal, gender and relationship expectations and the unnecessary harm they can inflict... While the subject matter could be depressing, Ruane's playful sense of humour adds plenty of levity resulting in a surprisingly moving and uplifting book that asks what it means to fully become ourselves' - Irish Times

'Dark, poetic, elegiac, thought-provoking and desperately sad - a masterclass in hautology' - Stu Hennigan

'Rose Ruane's second novel is like a memory box filled with sepia Polaroids and letters and trinkets... often funny, more often heartbreaking, but ultimately, cosmically hopeful... Birding is a novel for anyone who has ever asked themselves, "who am I?" or "am I enough?"' - Snack Magazine