The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt
What's It About?
Twenty-something Alice Wyndham has been haunted all her life by frightening visions of birds. When she looks at someone, she sees a spirit nightjar sitting on their shoulder guarding their soul. Alice’s best friend Jen is the only person who understands her fear. When Jen is involved in an accident and lies in a coma, Alice must find a way to travel to Death’s aviary to retrieve Jen’s nightjar.The Nightjar (Tor Books) by Deborah Hewitt is a portal fantasy set in London, which is an absolute treat for me ― a free trip home ― and the portal is Marble Arch which leads to a magical twin city called The Rookery. It’s a highly inventive, gently humorous and occasionally dark story.
I liked the protagonist, Alice, and her sense of humor. At the start of the book, she says she’s a magnet for lonely pensioners because of her face: “…a wholesome, rosy-cheeked face that spoke of chastity and virtue. Though if she was in anyway chaste it wasn’t through lack of trying.” That part made me smile and hooked me on the hope she’d get a love interest!
Some reviewers of the book on Goodreads and Amazon didn’t like Alice or her choices, and I can see what they mean, but I agreed with reviewer Michelle Kenneth who said that Alice “…was thrust into a very strange world with new ideologies … [and] had difficulties letting go of her own truths as new truths and belief systems came to light.”
I know how that is …
A PORTAL TO A MAGICAL DIMENSION
Alice travels to the Rookery, a hidden, magical alternate London, to develop her magic. She must risk everything to save her best friend Jen ― and in the process uncover the strange truth about herself. That aspect of the story, along with the ending, which involves Death as a character in very interesting ways, were some of my favorite parts of the book, packed with twists and action that I loved.
I also thought that the concept of the spirit nightjar was fascinating; I love any kind of magic that allows the main character to see who people really are.
The love interest who helps her get to the Rookery is a guy called Crowley, who might be an enemy. Some reviewers didn’t like Crowley. Stella from Australia said in her review that he’s a “brooding schmuck also sporting lousy communication skills [and] the heroine loses points for being the type of woman who falls for this type of man.”
Well, again, I can see where Stella from Australia is coming from and, in real life, I wouldn’t be interested in Crowley as a friend, but this book is so much more than a slow-burn romance that it didn’t matter to me.
The Nightjar is the first book in a duology. I have the second book, The Rookery, but I haven’t read it yet. Be warned: there are some dark, gritty moments but I scanned them, reading with one eye closed. Publisher’s Weekly called it a “superb, darkly charming debut” and I agree.
So, whether this book is your cup of tea depends on what you value most as a reader; if you like highly imaginative, thoughtful magic and a London setting as I do, I highly recommend it.
