The Bird Cottage
At the age of 40, violinist Gwendolen ‘Len’ Howard (1894-1973) exchanged the company of humans for that of birds. Having given up her seat in a London orchestra, she moved to Ditchling, a tiny village in Sussex, where she took up residence in ‘Bird Cottage’ and began studying the behaviour of the birds in her garden, gaining insight that was well ahead of its time, which she published in articles and two books that became bestsellers in their day.
FictionPrint
Original title
Het vogelhuis
Author
Eva Meijer
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Eva Meijer has written an eye-opening novel about a woman who loves birds. This ‘bird friend’ is portrayed naturally, without eccentricity or political intent.
De Volkskrant
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Eva Meijer gives an entrancing account of Len Howard’s life. So mesmerising and moving, in fact, that during the reading of 'Het Vogelhuis' I sometimes sensed I was part of a greater, natural and meaningful whole.
NRC Handelsblad
Eva Meijer
Eva Meijer (b. 1980) is a writer and philosopher. Their extensive oeuvre, which includes the international bestselling novel Bird Cottage (2016), is much praised in the international media. Meijer received the Erasmus Dissertation prize for The Soldier Was A Dolpin: On Polical Animals (2017) and went on to garner the Halewijn prize for their literary oeuvre, and the Hypatia philosophy prize. Their work frequently addresses language and politics in the animal world. Meijer currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam, writes essays and columns for Dutch newspapers and is a member of the Multispecies Collective.