The Warbler

A Novel

De: Sarah Beth Durst

Narrado por: Caitlin Davies, Sara Sheckells, Marni Penning

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lies Among Us comes a magical tale about mothers and daughters, choices and consequences, and the real meaning of home when every place feels like a cage.

Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.

But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts where mysterious forces make it impossible for the residents to leave, she hopes she can change her fate.

As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want. Now she believes she’s stuck, too—is that a patch of bark on her arm? But her neighbor’s collection of pet birds sings secrets that Elisa can almost understand—secrets she must unravel in order to be truly alive.

©2025 by Sarah Beth Durst. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Good

When I first started reading this book, I was a little bit confused because it went from one character to another to another. Then I realized that all these women were connected and every time I changed to another character it was telling a little bit more about how the curse started. The ending was a little bit surprising though I was not expecting that. I did feel bad for Lori and Alyssa for having to move around so much because of the curse that was put on them by somebody else because they thought they knew best. Sometimes I thought the narrator got a little bit too emotional.

A story that took root in my heart

Some stories don’t shout, they take root… and sometimes, they trap.
The Warbler is a quiet, magical story about mothers, daughters, and the complicated ways love can become control.
A wish meant to protect ripples through generations, binding some to stay, forcing others to never put down roots. Trees and roots become powerful symbols of memory, inheritance, and the weight of the past, while caged birds linger as haunting reminders of freedom lost.
At its core, it asks: when does protection become a cage?
“Some roots don’t anchor us—they pull us back.”
A beautiful, thoughtful story about breaking cycles and choosing your own path.

Well written but full of generational trauma.

In many ways this book reminded me of Kelly Barnhill’s When Women Were Dragons. Both are very well written both are significantly hard for me to read. The “villain” of this story was written in so accurate a way that I wanted to yell at them about how awful they were. If you want a book filled with trauma and difficult relationships you’ll love this. It will live in my memory but I can’t bring myself to read it again.

Amazing

Great story! I listened on hour drives to college and it felt like no time at all!

didn't understand the ending

there was so much fun and good in this book however just seem like perhaps a little more editing perhaps more this character development or at least A better ending that was the main thing I did not understand the ending so the spoiler alert on this so the character helped everyone in town but she couldn't ever help herself that's the ending?