The Earthquake Bird
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The Earthquake Bird
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Narrated by:
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Kirsty Rider
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By:
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Susanna Jones
About this listen
Early this morning, several hours before my arrest, I was woken by an earth tremor. I mention the incident not to suggest that there was a connection - that somehow the fault lines in my life came crashing together in a form of a couple of policemen - for in Tokyo we have a quake like this every month. I am simply relating the sequence of events as it happened. It has been an unusual day, and I would hate to forget anything....
So begins The Earthquake Bird, a haunting novel set in Japan which reveals a murder in its opening minutes and takes its listeners into the mind of the chief suspect, Lucy Fly - a young, vulnerable English girl living and working in Tokyo as a translator. As Lucy is interrogated by the police, she reveals her past to the listener, and it is a past which is dangerously ambiguous and compromising.
Why did Lucy leave England for the foreign anonymity of Japan 10 years before, and what exactly had prompted her to sever all links with her family back home? She was the last person to see the murdered girl alive, so why was she not more forthcoming about the circumstances of their last meeting? As Lucy's story unfolds, it emerges that secrets, both past and present, obsess her waking life.
2001, CWA New Blood Dagger, Winner
2001, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Winner
2002, Betty Trask Award, Winner
©2011 Susanna Jones (P)2017 Pan Macmillan Publishers LtdListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Earthquake Bird
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angela
- 25-04-23
The Graveside Bride's Review- The earthquake Bird
The Earthquake Bird is the debut novel by Susanna Jones. Set in Japan the story centres around a young British ex-pat called Lucy Fly
Lucy Fly is an oddity, an outsider, a kind of misfit, who describes herself as someone whom death ‘follows around.’ As a character Lucy is clearly intelligent and strong willed, although at first she could be characterised as someone who is a little emotionally repressed. This changes though, later in the novel when she enters into a complex romantic relationship with Teji, who appears to be her soulmate.
Lucy speaks fluent Japanese, and she is currently living and working in Tokyo as a translator. It appears that Lucy may have fled her dark past in England, finally settling in a country far away, having found a connection with Japanese culture. Lucy’s past is something which she clearly wishes to remain hidden. But Lucy seems to have adapted well to her new life in Japan. The mode of Japanese culture suits her well and allows her to live a highly introverted and private life, without seeming like an oddity here.
The beginning of the novel finds Lucy Fly being questioned by the Tokyo police over the death and possible murder of her ‘friend’ Lily Bridges.
By opening her novel in this way Jones’ is able to skilfully plunge the reader straight into the heart of the mystery. The reader is asked to contemplate the following questions,
Where is Lily Bridges and what happened to her? What connection does Lucy have to Lily’s disappearance and why are the police questioning her?
If Lucy, was the last person to see the murdered girl alive, then why is she not more forthcoming about the circumstances of their last meeting?
This raises the prime question. Is Lucy a reliable narrator?
. The story is told purely from Lucy’s perspective and Susanna Jones skilfully uses this device to ease the reader into trusting Lucy’s narration, while at the same time sprinkling her concise and well written prose with enough hints of a darker side to Lucy’s character.
I would add that some of the weaker parts of the novel for me, were found in believing some of the details of Lucy’s background, these I found to be a little far-fetched. But overall, I think that Susanna Jones successfully creates enough suspense and mystery to sustain her story, which asks the reader to accept these fanciful plot points.
Jones surrounds her heroine which other dubious characters and this adds to the tension, but it also allows the reader to be drawn into the world created by the author.
Jones’ heroine strikes up an instant relationship with amateur photographer Teiji, they have an immediate romantic connection. But Teji has secrets of his own. The initial murder mystery plot changes with the arrival of Lily, a stray who attaches herself to Lucy and becomes the catalyst for the emotional and psychological themes of the novel. Friendship, love, betrayal, and self-belief.
I was also fascinated by reading about Japan and the setting adds another layer of mystery and wonder to the story.
Overall, I think Susanna Jones is successful in creating a griping and engaging psychological thriller.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Lord Copper
- 22-11-23
Slightly stilted psycho drama set in Japan
I downloaded this because I particularly wanted to listen to a contemporary story set in Japan. However the insight I was hoping for was largely missing. A strange narrative that didn't really get out of first gear.
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