All The Little Bird Hearts By Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

‘All The Little Bird Hearts’ is the latest book by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow.

Sunday Forrester lives with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Dolly, in the house she grew up in. She does things more carefully than most people. On quiet days, she must eat only white foods. Her etiquette handbook guides her through confusing social situations, and to escape, she turns to her treasury of Sicilian folklore. The one thing very much out of her control is Dolly – her clever, headstrong daughter, now on the cusp of leaving home. Into this carefully ordered world step Vita and Rollo, a couple who move in next door, disarm Sunday with their charm, and proceed to deliciously break just about every rule in Sunday’s book. Soon they are in and out of each others’ homes, and Sunday feels loved and accepted like never before. But beneath Vita and Rollo’s polish lies something else, something darker. For Sunday has precisely what Vita has always wanted for herself: a daughter of her own.

Beautifully descriptive, this book is a story of female relationships and dynamics. Sunday lives in her own little quiet world where she has order and routine. She’s lives alone with her teenage daughter Dolly. They live their lives quietly until social butterfly- Vita moves in to the house next door and brings with her glamour, outspoken personality and her wild tales of London life. Sunday and her become friends and Sunday and her daughter are in awe of the flamboyant character, but after a while Vita takes Dolly under her wing and Sunday feels even more excluded in life. With having a hearing deficiency, she’s often felt on the outside and looking in and even though she always sees the good in people, wonders if Vita and her husband are quite the good people that she’s been lead to believe.

I loved this story, the characters are a fascinating mix of personalities that all the complete opposite of each other. Where Sunday is an introvert, Vita is an extrovert always looking to be the centre of attention. As the story progresses we see Vita as a friendly woman but the story takes a darker turn that makes for compelling reading.

Wonderfully crafted and tenderly written, ‘All The Little Birds Hearts’ is a poignant and innocent story about new friendships and betrayal.

You can buy ‘All The Little Bird Hearts’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.