The Bird’s Child by Sandra Leigh Price

It’s been an everything’s-wrong-with-the-universe kind of day, with 3/5 of my kids going to school teary this morning, so this little gift from the lovely Catherine Milne at Harper Collins was just the lift I needed. (The postman was rather nonplussed when he realized I was that excited about…a book! :-D) I’ve been hearing about The Bird’s Child all over the place and swooning every time I see the cover, which gives off this gorgeous old-school fairy tale vibe, so I’m overjoyed to finally get my hot little hands on a copy.

One of the first things I do when I get a brand-new book after sniffing the paper (any other sniffers out there?) is flip open the pages and read a couple paragraphs at random to get a feel for the author’s voice. I like to know what kind of flavor the writing has so that I can set aside exactly the right time to read it. Some books are perfect for picking up on and off throughout the day every time I can spare five minutes, and others I save until I can binge-read them over the course of a couple evenings. I’ll let you decide what kind of reading suits this book. Here’s a paragraph that caught my eye on page 86:

“I tested the knife’s weight in my hand and I felt its need. Who was I to hold it back? It flew through the room, my strange metal bird, happily planting its lethal beak in the wood of the box-office window frame, exactly as I had aimed it. Clay looked up from his meek disciples and over to the box office, but dismissed the evidence of his own ears. As they disappeared into the theatre, I walked over and pulled the knife from the grain and admired my calligraphy. With only a little more encouragement from the tip of the blade, snick-snick, two Ls shone back at me upon the wall – Lily Little – for all the world to see if they were sharp enough.”

So I read that and did that little dance you do when you find a voice that really speaks to you, and I’m excited to announce that Sandra Leigh Price, author of The Bird’s Child, has kindly agreed to appear on WordMothers. Be sure to look for her interview in the next couple weeks!