There are occasions when a book comes along that I find difficult to immediately write a review above the ‘Absolutely beautiful!’ and ‘Thoroughly recommended!” statements. It’s the kind of book that lingers in your thoughts long after you have finished reading it. A book that gets beneath your skin – that is how Starling was for me.

Synopsis

Starling can trap a rabbit, cook a meal from a hedge and hear a bailiff coming from a mile off. All she has ever known is a nomadic existence, travelling in a converted van with Mar, her strong-willed mother.

But Mar has cut them off from their community, and this winter they’re stuck in deep mud in a wood, with no fuel, no money and no friends. One morning, without explanation, Mar leaves and doesn’t come back.

Utterly alone, Starling must learn to survive without her mother and build a life on her own terms. An offer to stay with an old friend draws her into a more conventional way of living – but can rootless Starling ever find a place where she truly belongs?

My thoughts about Starling

Spring had come too early and frost had blackened the first buds. Under the soil the seeds and roots waited again, and Starling waited too. Everything to its time, Mar always said. Mar would leave when it was time to leave.

Chapter One, Starling by Sarah Jane Butler

Starling is Sarah’s debut novel. It has emerged over the years whilst she has been working as a professional copywriter and communications consultant and writer of fiction. Her short stories have been published in literary journals and anthologies. She knows how to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard. Still, a novel is another kettle of fish altogether, and yet she handles it with the skill of a seasoned writer. Not one word is wasted and the finished book itself is a thing of beauty and full of soul. I absolutely adored this novel. It came to me at a time when my own life was unsettled and difficult. We are all experiencing challenging times and of course books are the perfect escape but with Starling I found a genuine freedom. It is a story about finding ones place in the world and dealing with unexpected and challenging circumstances. It is also a story about the world around us, the immediate world around us that we so often miss as we rush from one moment to the next without stopping, without looking. How badly we have treated this place we call home, without appreciating the life it offers us, often without gratitude and care.

Out on the edge of the woodland Starling placed her hand on the truck of the fallen oak. It’s bark was harsh and resistant even after months of rain and sun. Standing tall on the wood’s edge, it had been first to feel the gales two autumns past when the wind had turned and driven in from the east. The storm had caught the oak’s westerly roots by surprise, and one vast gust had filled its canopy of golden leaves and toppled it, ripping its roots from the earth as it fell. When a wind comes from a strange direction, even the greatest trees can be caught. Starling thanked it for the warmth it would give them.

Chapter One, Starling by Sarah Jane Butler

As we open the pages of the book and enter their world, Mar and Starling are alone, living day to day in their van. The van: a thing of beauty, a shelter, their home. It blends into the beauty of it’s surroundings, hiding from the world deep in the wood. But the winter cold has lingered and they need to move on, to find a new place before they are discovered. What are they running from? I initially wondered, wanting no contact even with those that are dear to them. Surely everyone belongs somewhere? Surely everyone wants to belong somewhere. Are we not conditioned from a young age to live a particular way. To be part of a civilised community. It is, after all, a human need to belong.

One of the wonders of this book is Sarah’s ability to build characters. They rise up through the magic of sentences and wonderful dialogue. Mar is rather enigmatic, almost like a ghost, but you can feel her there throughout the story and we get to know her through Starling herself. Perhaps Mar will one day have a story of her own or perhaps she will always remain just a shadow figure in the background of Starling’s story. But for now this story is about Starling as she embarks on life without her mother, it’s time for her to find her own place in the world. We follow her from her first tentative steps as she tries to track down Mar and the sense of ‘home’ that she brings, the only home Starling’s ever known. Perhaps Starling will find her (no spoilers here!) or perhaps she will find her own way and and a different ‘home’, one that she has never imagined. Perhaps ultimately she will find ‘herself’ or at least a sense of herself. Something that perhaps we are all trying to do.

Diversity is a well used word now, we are encouraged to celebrate it and yet we know that there is still distrust for anything different from what we know. There is an element of this touched on within Starling’s story. In ‘normal society’ we are encouraged to behave and live in a certain way. Perhaps we are like the ants that Mar shows Starling within the book, we follow and build together to survive… and yet we destroy. We surround ourselves in concrete and ‘things’ and forget where we all came from. I love the way Sarah has taken us back to our roots, literally as we watch Starling survive and merge natural living with today’s modern world. There is after all room for both. The story doesn’t condemn modern living but it makes us think about what is important. Life and nature is uncontrollable. No matter how much we try to control it, it will win in the end.

When we read, each one of us will take something different from the story, we interpret it in our own unique way. What I can say without a doubt is that Starling is a wonderful piece of writing. Beautifully constructed, incredibly moving at times and a story well told. It was an absolute joy to read and now, some months after reading it for the first time, it has been a pleasure to revisit and try to put into words how I feel about it.

Starling by Sarah Jane Butler is published by Fairlight Books. It is available in hardback and on eBook. Thank you to Fairlight Books for supplying me with a proof copy for review purposes. I have also bought myself a signed hardback copy from my local independent bookshop (link below). This book is a keeper and will always have a home on my bookcase.

The Bookshop in East Grinstead currently has signed copies of Starling in stock.

About the author

Sarah Jane Butler grew up on the edge of Southborough Common in Kent. She studied languages at university and spent time living in France and Spain. Her short stories (some published under the name S J Butler) have appeared in literary journals and anthologies and she has twice won the 26 Project Writer’s Award. Starling is her debut novel. As well as writing friction, she is a copywriter and communications consultant. She lives in Sussex with her husband, and has two children.

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