Songbirds - Christy Lefteri

Beekeeper of Aleppo was my first book by Christy Lefteri. Although I hold some reservations against it (which hopefully will be translated into a post soon), Lefteris writing was something I absolutely adored — beautiful yet haunting. And so when I saw this in Morrison’s, I picked it up and began reading it without even checking the blurb.

The book is based in Cyprus and is based on the real-life case of the disappearances of domestic workers there. Originally, I was going to explain what the case was about and how horrifying it all was. But I decided it would be best not to mention anything, because I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed reading this was because I was completely unaware about this case. I went in without any background information, which made the reading experience more compelling. And I was even more horrified when I found out that it was based on a real-life case.

The whole storyline felt so unexpected, especially as I went in expecting something similar to the Beekeeper of Aleppo. Although I wouldn’t classify this as a thriller (since it wasn’t fast-paced at all), it was the type of book I wanted to carry on reading just to find out where it was going.

On the other hand, even if you are aware of the case, I would still recommend this book. The purpose of this book is to zoom into the life of those that are completely overlooked in society. While very uncommon in the UK, domestic workers are the norm of many societies abroad. I can’t speak for all, but from what I’ve seen, I could truly see how plausible it is for what happened in Cyprus to happen in any place. Domestic workers work so intimately with families, they see the children of the house grow, they are there through the ups and downs. But how much do the families know about these workers, if anything? And how little does society care about them?

If you reached till the end of this reflection/ book review, thank you my friend. I appreciate it!

I hope we get to meet each other in my next post too. Until then, if you have any thoughts about what you’ve just read let me know (in the comments or any other way). I’d love to start a conversation!

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Until next time,

Thasneema 🌻