Winchester University creative writing lecturer Judith Heneghan’s latest novel Birdeye was published last week with a launch at P&G Wells bookshop in College Street.
Birdeye is set amongst the forests and creeks of the Catskill Mountains, upstate New York. Judith lived there for a time as a child while her father was on assignment from IBM Hursley. She has made several trips back in the last few years, mainly for research.
The novel tells the story of Liv Ferrars, who travels to the US as a young woman in 1969, goes to Woodstock, then establishes a commune in an old house in the woods. Fifty years later, she still lives at the Birdeye Colony, until one morning a young stranger shows up. His presence causes Liv to question everything she believes in, including what she asks of those she loves most.
Birdeye is Judith’s second novel for adults. Her first, Snegurochka, is set in Kyiv in the early 1990s and was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. She has also written extensively for children.
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During the launch, she said: “Books get written in secret – no one knows what you are up to. Then suddenly your novel is out in the world, and in the hands of readers. Publication day is always a mix of excitement and nerves.
“I started writing Birdeye six years ago, so it has taken me a while, but in many ways it is the book I’ve always wanted to write, because it is about love in many forms – between parents and children, between sisters, between friends and ex-lovers and even strangers – and how these relationships may be tested or distorted, whether we can make them right again, and how we seek to memorialise what is lost.
“I hope it gets people talking. If anyone is interested in reading it with their book group I’d be delighted to come along and answer questions.”
Judith will be discussing her new book at October Books in Southampton at 6.30pm on May 29 and at Basingstoke Library on July 6 at 2pm.
Birdeye (Salt Publishing, £10.99) is available from all good bookshops, and online.
