How do you start reading a novel which is cluttered in praise for another book? It's like setting oneself up for failure. It's like being a kid sister to a very older sister or brother. As if the only way in which you are acknowledged is through the being of someone else.
The book which is so evidently being promoted here is the
Gravedigger's Daughter (as you can see on the cover I shared). It's lovely to know this writer has at least one work of significance, but it does steal the thunder for the story enclosed between the covers.
Little Bird of Heaven is the recollection of two families torn apart when a murder happens. One on hand you have Aaron, the son of the murdered woman and a suspected father, on the other you have Krista, the daughter of the main suspect and Aaron's mother's lover.
Krista is telling us her story for the most part, maintaining a believe in her father's innocence and a fascination for the murdered woman and her family.
Aaron tells us something too, albeit more dark and scary than Krista's memories. He seems to be split into two separate individuals, Aaron and Krull and when he discovers his mothers body, it's mainly Krull talking, which is a mean and vindictive part of his character.
Their lives barely touch, mainly in the end when they have to resolve the mystery of Aaron's mother's death.
It's slow paced, packed with frantic conversations and heated guilty thoughts. Not much is being resolved in this murder mystery, the overall feeling being lacking in information and certainty. It's dramatic how both the lives of Krista and Aaron take a turn after the murder, both seemingly descending into an abyss of confusion, anger and betrayal.
Krista being saved by her father from a dreadful live, whereas Aaron has to try and crawl out of the muck himself.
I'm not sure I liked it, I mainly thought Aaron had killed his mother, in a rage, not remembering he did so, but in the end it was neatly enclosed that someone not even mentioned in the novel killed her and both fathers of Aaron and Krista are innocent.
The last part, the part of Aaron and Krista together, seems a bit much. It lacks credibility, even the choice of employment of Krista is far fetched, thinking she'd be a little hardened by then. Eventually she does show to be a independent woman, realizing when she's got to walk away, which is a surprise. It's not a novel I'll be remembering for long.
