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The Gravity of Birds

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What to expect

How do you find someone who wants to be lost?

Sisters Alice and Natalie were once close, but adolescence has wrenched them apart. Alice is a dreamer who loves books and birds; Natalie is headstrong, manipulative – and beautiful.

On their lakeside family holiday, Alice falls under the thrall of a struggling young painter, Thomas Bayber. Natalie, however, seems strangely unmoved, tolerating sittings for a family portrait with surprising indifference. But by the end of the summer, three lives are shattered.

Decades later, Thomas, now a world-renowned artist, reveals the existence of a portrait of himself with Alice and Natalie from that fateful summer. The sisters themselves have disappeared without a trace. And Thomas is torn between taking the secrets of the girls to the grave, or using the painting to resurrect the past before it closes up on them all for good…

Critics Review

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‘A fabulous debut’ Stylist

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‘I really loved it! A deep and compelling page-turning story handled with the lightest of touches. It’s gone straight to the place on my bookshelf reserved for my favourite reads’
Louise Douglas, author of The Secrets Between Us

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‘The Gravity of Birds is a beautifully written book, splattered with painterly language as befits the art world this beguiling story inhabits’
Kathleen MacMahon, author of This is How it Ends

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‘A beautifully written, compelling story. I absolutely loved it’
Lucy Clarke, author of The Sea Sisters

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‘One of those rare, exquisitely written novels that haunt you long after you've finished the last page. It is a novel not to be missed’
Alyson Richman, author of The Lost Wife

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‘Part mystery, part psychological drama and intriguing love story. This is a stunning debut’
Ellen Sussman, author of French Lessons

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‘A richly textured novel’ Oprah

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‘A riveting debut’ Good Housekeeping

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