I read an eARC of this book so thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing this. Emily is given the task to find a long-lost treasure which Heinrich believes has been cloistered, and concealed within the remains of the castle, but how can this be when he has been a resident for so many years for there cannot be left anything of note to discover, surely? But what Emily finds instead is an old journal of Hester’s which leads her to a book—The Birdcage Library—and a scavenger-style hunt that uncovers long buried secrets (both Hester’s and her own) that could lead her down a path from which there’s no escape… But, of course, what would a blindingly good mystery be, or a mystery within a mystery, if there weren’t broken, fallible people at its core? I was drawn into this powerful book. D ark and multi layered... Claustrophobic and clever storytelling' JANE SHEMILT

This is one of the best examples of dual time line I have read in a while. Both women were almost talking to each other across time. Emmy and Hester were very different yet I felt an akinship between them, the way Hester led Emmy via her diary to the hidden crannies of that castle. Ooh there’s those goosebumps again. No decision, especially ones made under stress of any kind, has no consequences, and so it is in The Birdcage Library which is an instructive lesson in how a momentary twist of the existential knife or a caving into the demands of the heart can have far-reaching repercussions down the decades, so much so that dealing with becomes both a thing of sorrow and terror, depending on where you are standing when the consequential birds of your flawed decision-making come home to roost. I looked at him a moment, thinking of the girl I had been at the cage factory, her head filled with empty dreams. The woman who had married, hoping for an augmentation of the soul, for other worlds than this. And the creature I was now, her whole being narrowed to the man before her. ‘Perhaps. But look at the emporium, Henry. The best most of us can hope for is to find comfort inn our cages.’ There is also a dazzling list of debut authors to discover, including Rachel Eliza Griffiths, whose first novel, Promise, is a meaningful tale of heartbreak, courage and resistance. And if it's prize-winning writing you're after, look no further than Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, which scored this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.

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Character voices were distinct, they were interesting. Emmy is likeable but flawed enough to never feel dull. Her intelligence shines through and her inquisitive and empathetic mind helps her to unravel what has been purposely designed as a complex mystery. Freya is clearly a master at her craft and I look forward to reading more of her work —She’s definitely a new auto buy author for me. A really clever & very beautifully written dual-timeline historical mystery set in the perfect place for such a tale; a remote castle on the Scottish coast.

But as is the way with anything that has a tinge of gothic mystery, and The Birdcage Library has that and much, much more, what Emily expects and what she actually encounters are too quite different things as it emerges, first slowly and then in a rush that Henry Vogel, the owner of the castle to which she goes to work, has a far darker agenda than he first let on.

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A deliciously gothic and utterly atmospheric, Daphne Du Maurier style historical mystery that will definitely have you on the edge of your seat. There are references and glimpses of real people in this fictional tale PT Barnum, Mamie Fish, Hyatt Frost and Lord Rothschild, which also gave the story real interest. The characters were well drawn and the various plot lines kept the interest high. Hester’s diary leads Emily to an old book The Birdcage Library and into a treasure hunt of another kind, one that will take her down a dangerous path for clues, and force her to confront her own darkest secret… The allegory of birds and cages is all throughout this novel. In a physical sense, the birds that were kept in stylish cages (Hester's time), and metaphorically, a woman's place in society/home/the world. I found both Hester and Emily to have much in common, and genuinely enjoyed each woman's chapters. They were both emotionally potent and riveting in a thrilling/survival sense. To the reader with a most inquisitive mind and a fearless disposition, you are invited to embark on a quest, a treasure hunt, if you will, down a path only a puzzler may dare tread, for the answers to such a perplexing and beguiling puzzle lie hidden within an old and long-forgotten book…