Details:
- author: Jane Davis
- full title: A Funeral for an Owl
- narrator: Alix Dunmore
- genre: literary fiction
- topics: #school #gangs #brokenhome #childhoodmemories #comingofage
- publisher: Saga Egmont Audio
- publish date: 30.09.2021
- timing: 10:18:00
My Rating of the Audiobook:
- content: 💙💙💙💙.5
- narration: 💙💙💙💙💙
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| Goodreads |
Excerpt from the Book:
There had been no false illusions: from as early as Jim could recall his father Frank had been a temporary presence. His second home - as he called it - was Wandsworth, a credential he shared with one of the Great Train Robbers. Jim's brother Nick - older by six years - had been shoe-horned into the role of the man of the house. Both boys were monitored for signs that they were taking after their dad, as vigorously as their scalps had once been checked for head lice. Shortly after Nick reached the age of sixteen, Jean ironed and folded his clothes for the last time.
My Thoughts:
A Funeral for an Owl by Jane Davis is a satisfying literary fiction. Although, I should emphasize that it is quite slow-paced and you could like it only if this is not a problem for you.
Three different views from three different worlds. The story is told from three POVs: Ayisha (teacher), Jim (teacher), and Shamayal (14-year-old student). Through their perspective, the author unfolds two major stories: one happening in the present and one in the past when Jim was twelve. Shamayal is from a dysfunctional home, and his two teachers want to help him. But where is the limit of the teacher-student relationship? Can they be friends?
Only one narrator in this audiobook, but Alix Dunmore did an excellent job here. I liked the accents, and that she made all the characters distinguishable. Also, Jane Davis is a very talented writer. I will look for her works in the future. In a book or audiobook form. 4.5 rounded to 5.
About the Author:
Hailed by The Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’, Jane Davis writes thought-provoking literary page turners with razor sharp dialogue and a strong commercial edge.
She spent her twenties and the first half of her thirties chasing promotions in the business world but, frustrated by the lack of a creative outlet, she turned to writing.
Her first novel, 'Half-Truths and White Lies', won a national award established with the aim of finding ‘the next Joanne Harris’. Further recognition followed in 2016 with 'An Unknown Woman' being named Self-Published Book of the Year by Writing Magazine/the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust, as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards, and in 2019 with 'Smash all the Windows' winning the inaugural Selfies Book Award.
Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they are in highly volatile situations and then, in her words, she throws them to the lions. The themes she explores are diverse, ranging from pioneering female photographers, to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster.
A common thread that runs through her writing is the impact of missing persons on our lives, how the hole they leave behind can be so great that it dwarfs the people actually left behind. In 'I Stopped Time', it was an estranged mother. She addressed the theme head-on in 'A Funeral for an Owl', with teenage runaways. And in 'These Fragile Things' mother Elaine is obsessed by the child she lost to a miscarriage, almost to the exclusion of the child she has.
