Book: Other Birds

 Book: Other Birds

Author: Sarah Addison Allen

Pages: 352

This is my 167th read for the year

This story begins with Zoey Hennessey.  She has recently graduated from high school and is about to begin college in South Carolina.  She was left a condo by her late mother on Mallow Island - in a complex called the Dellaswip - and she decides to move in before she starts school.  As she gets to know the other people in her complex, she starts to unfold the magic of this unique place.  Frazier -the manager of the complex - gives her the job to clean out an apartment after the tenant dies.  As she starts to go through the boxes looking for mysterious pages that were supposedly left by a legendary writer, she tries to figure out why the tenant kept so much paper.  She enlists the help of neighbor Charlotte whose story starts to unfold as they search.  They meet Mac - a shy chef who brings them comfort food, and they try and track down the son on of the dead woman - Oliver - who vowed to stay away forever.  As their stories entertwine and unfold, Zoey finds the family she had been missing.

This was a fantastic book.  I picked it up at a used bookstore for a few dollars and what a gem.  It is very well written.  Each character is likeable and well developed.  Zoey - being 18 years old is just a sweet, darling young woman (finally a teenage character that isn't self centered and over dramatized) who you cannot help but love.  The stories of how they all fit together came together so neatly that by the time I reached the end I was actually sad.  There are some twists I didn't see coming, but overall this is just a wonderful, sweet, charming story with a little bit of magical realism thrown in to complete the picture.  Don't miss this one.

Stars: 5