Oliver has no intention of ever going back to that dysfunctional place, where his mother and aunt have been waging a silent cold war for decades.īut on Zoey’s first night, a mysterious death pulls all the neighbors but Lucy out into the shared garden. Which is ironic since his aunt Lucy lives right next door – but she had as little interest in Oliver as his mother did. If it hadn’t been for the elderly property manager Frasier, Oliver probably wouldn’t have had clothes that fit or food to eat the entire time he was growing up. His mother Lisbeth is a hoarder who has no room in her home or her heart for her son. Oliver Lime hasn’t been back to the Delllawisp since he left for college. He might be the head chef of a five-star restaurant, with notable awards under his belt and write ups in fancy magazines, but after hours he comes home to his condo at the Dellawisp and has only a cat – and a ghost – for company. He goes through the motions necessary for existing but he isn’t really living.

Mac is still grieving the loss of his foster mother, the only person in his life who ever truly loved him. Life’s pretty great – until she loses her job. Lisbeth Lime, one of the residents, runs screeching out of her unit if they make the slightest of sounds outside their own homes – sometimes she loses it even if the sound comes from inside! Still, the solitude enforced by this behavior means that Charlotte’s secrets have stayed her own and for the first tme in forever, she hasn’t had to pack up and move just to keep people from prying.

To be fair, they haven’t had much of a choice. They have a nod and smile kind of acquaintaiship with little conversation and absolutely no sharing of secrets. One of the things henna artist Charlotte has always loved about the small Dellawisp complex is that the neighbors don’t interact. Much to her surprise, something about the move has transformed her from the shy, sad girl who didn’t have a single buddy the last few years into someone who seems to have a knack for making friends. Just weeks after high school graduation Zoey finds herself alone at her mom’s unit in the Dellawisp complex with only an invisible bird for company. Fortunately, her deceased mother left Zoey both a trust fund and a condo in Mallow, South Carolina. Her father provided a roof over her head but he and her stepmother made it clear it was done with the greatest reluctance and that they expected her to leave as soon as she could. Other Birds is an artisan marshmallow of a book, a delightfully sweet, fluffy story about a world we wish existed.Įighteen year old Zoey Hennesey has never really had a home.

Other birds a novel book review