A Little Bird

A Novel

By: Wendy James

Narrated by: Tamala Shelton, Sandy Greenwood

Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

A homecoming snares a young woman in a dangerous tangle of lies, secrets, and bad blood in this gripping novel by the bestselling author of An Accusation.

Running from a bad relationship, journalist Jo Sharpe heads home to Arthurville, the drought-stricken town she turned her back on years earlier. While some things have changed - her relationship with her ailing, crotchety father, her new job at the community newspaper - Jo finds that her return has rekindled the grief and uncertainty she experienced during her childhood following the inexplicable disappearance of her mother and baby sister.

Returning to Arthurville has its unexpected pleasures, though, as Jo happily reconnects with old friends and makes a few new ones. But she can’t let go of her search for answers to that long-ago mystery. And as she keeps investigating, the splash she’s making begins to ripple outward - far beyond the disappearance of her mother and sister.

Jo is determined to dig as deep as it takes to get answers. But it’s not long before she realizes that someone among the familiar faces doesn’t want her picking through the debris of the past. And they’ll go to any lengths to silence the little bird before she sings the truth.

©2021 Wendy James (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“A solid mystery with interesting characters.”—Booklist

“A Little Bird is a true feast for lovers of domestic suspense and atmospheric family dramas. Using multiple narrations, Wendy James propels the story forward as a woman seeks to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of her mother and baby sister two decades before. Then she takes us back in time to the unfolding of that mystery. The suspense builds as the secrets unravel, with an ending that is both surprising and deeply satisfying. A compelling, page-turning read!”—Wendy Walker, bestselling author of Don’t Look for Me

“Wendy James’s newest novel, A Little Bird, fully immersed me in the modern Australian outback and made me never want to leave. When Jo Sharpe returns home after a tough breakup, she finds herself working at a small-town ‘good news only’ newspaper, covering the ups and downs (but mostly ups) of her hometown. But there is more than good news in Arthurville. As Jo seeks to uncover the reality behind the stories she’s woven over the years about her mother and infant sister’s disappearance, she soon discovers that there is a heart-pounding reason she never knew the truth about her mother’s flight from their family nest. In this beautifully written story of family secrets and the search for the truth, James’s tight prose and brilliant plot twists will have you frantically turning pages till the touching conclusion.”—Emily Bleeker, Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author

Decent

I like the book,I like the characters and the setting. It was not an in depth book and was kind of flat for me. The mystery was interesting but I knew who the culprit was way early on in the book. Also had a few unnecessary characters that I'm not sure what their purpose was in the book. Could have been better, easy time passer.

OK book and narration, but...

I find it incredibly annoying and inconvenient that Audible continues to recommend books I've previously listened to, finished, rated and removed from my library. This one I finished and rated (originally) on 3/10/22. It was not at all memorable. I have nearly 300 purchased books and constantly borrow and return books both from Kindle and from the less than stellar Audible Plus collection. As Amazon and Audible track borrowed books, consider adding a feature (algorithm?) that either *doesn't* recommend previously borrowed books OR flags same titles with an alert so we don't idiotically, accidentally download forgettable "reads" again. tyvm.