It is a testament to Wyld's vivid storytelling that readers will feel determined to drag themselves through her tale's more unsavory moments to its final revelation. But Jake is troubled as well as strong, running from the many tragedies in her past, including one experience that left a nasty scar on her back. Jake Whyte, the female protagonist in Wylds riveting second novel (following After the Fire, a Still Small Voice. Wyld's writing is as muscular as Jake, who, when spooked, drops to the floor to do push-ups. Jake's current fears include a man in a suit who shows up on her property, and a shadowy beast that she heard going berserk in her cottage one night. Her traumatic past includes a stint as a prostitute and a relationship with the creepy Otto, who ostensibly 'rescues' Jake from the streets, only to turn her into a sex slave of sorts. Jake Whyte is the sole resident of an old farmhouse on an unnamed British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. In the present, something, or someone, is gruesomely killing Jake's sheep.

Jake Whyte, a young Englishwoman, is a sheep farmer on a desolate scrap of island very like the Isle of Wight, where the author, who was named one of the best young British novelists of 2013 by Granta, spent much of her childhood. From one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists, a stun. 13,444 ratings, 3.61 average rating, 2,107 reviews Open Preview All the Birds, Singing Quotes Showing 1-3 of 3 I'm out of knives for the time being Evie Wyld, All the Birds, Singing 10 likes Like I feel the pull of being alone, of answering to no one, the safety of being unknown and far away. I was blown away by Wylds ability to hold tension right until the end, the way she manages to move around in time and still give the reader a dreaded sense of always moving forward, a breath-holding technique. In the searing second novel from Wyld (After the Fire, a Still Small Voice), the past takes real and imagined forms, all terrifying, in its protagonist's life. Read 2,047 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Reviewed in the United States on JVerified Purchase This is a harrowing, brutal, brave, taboo piece of writing.

All the birds singing review