 Jane's whole world is overturned at her
eighteenth birthday party. She flees her
home, disoriented, and finds refuge with
Christopher, a stained-glass artist more
than 40 years her senior, who is working on
a Resurrection window. As the window takes
shape, Jane tries to rebuild her own life,
examining the beliefs of all those she meets
- chaotic, cosy Isobel, whose motherly
exterior conceals a girlhood tragedy;
wealthy, tormented Adrian, who uses his
private chapel as a leisure-centre and sees
God as Chairman of the Board; Isobel's son
Hadley, who believes in feeding London's
tramps rather than squandering money
on churches or stained glass.
And, above all, Christopher
himself, selfish yet charismatic – the
promiscuous philosopher whose art is his
religion and who regards sex as a "taste
of the immortal". Jane sees him in his many
guises, from painstaking artist to suave
socialite, to passionate lover, sweating
in the kiln-room or tenderly romantic in
a country hotel bedroom which he fills with
dozens of red roses. But, unsure of her emotions
and shocked by Christopher's previous
affairs, she escapes to Chartres, where,
surrounded by the glory of the thirteenth-
century glass, she has an extraordinary
"rebirth" experience.
Bird Inside
examines adult values through the eyes of a
young girl who comes to see that other people's
lives are as confused and complex as her
own, and realises the necessity of lying
in a world built on deception, where violence
is a fact of life and sex is far removed from
both the romance of Hollywood and the
frisky coupling of the sex-manuals.
Reviews of "Bird Inside"
This is a novel that
invites and deserves respect.
The Scotsman
I enjoyed Bird Inside
immensely. It positively
crackles with energy, wit, sexiness,
intelligence. It's definitely one of
Perriam's best - and that's saying a lot.
D.M. Thomas
Perriam certainly knows how
to
grip the reader and to create a cast of
strong characters. This was a book that
I was reluctant to put down.
Sunday Telegraph
Perriam is one of the finest and funniest writers
to emerge in England since Kingsley Amis.
She is gifted with devastating powers of observation
and can call up characters who are both compact and complex.
Herald Tribune
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Author’s Comment
"This book brought me into contact with two very different worlds:
stained glass and adoption. As far as I know, Bird Inside is the only novel to
depict every stage of the making of a stained-glass window - a technique little changed
since the Middle Ages, when such windows were the equivalent of our cinema, telling
stories scene by scene. I spent a week in a stained-glass workshop, learning for myself the
skills and frustrations of the craft, and amazed to see how such a grimy and laborious
process results in a radiantly ethereal finished product.
I also interviewed many adoptees, hearing heart-breaking accounts of their searches for lost parents. Some had spent years trying to track down a birth-mother who might not be pleased to see them, or might even turn out to be a moron or a criminal."
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See the contact details at the bottom of the newsletter or buying books section.
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© Wendy Perriam 1998 - 2010
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