Hi! I’m Helen Gambarota and I am delighted to be back with Jo’s Weekly Workout Family to share my love of books with you.
I am a total book nerd and an avid reader and a compulsive book buyer. I started reviewing books on Instagram as @BestBookFoward almost 5 years ago and I love chatting about books and sharing my passion for reading.
If you’d like more book inspiration you can find my reviews on my Instagram account which is @BestBookForward, on Facebook or on my website bestbookforward.org
It’s been a while since I’ve shared a book recommendation with you but I am back with an absolute cracker! I cannot wait for you to fall in love with this one, it’s Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Ericka Waller.
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Goodbye Birdie Greenwing is the tale of three women, all living side by side without knowing each other, who find the friendship, love and support that they so desperately need when a series of incidents brings them together. I don’t know about you but I’m always curious about those people we see every day but don’t know. Maybe the neighbour you wave to as you drive to work, the person who is always sat opposite you on the train or the woman walking her dog that you pass every morning. I’m always interested in all these lives that are playing out without us really knowing what those people are going through. I think we had a bit of a taste of what its like for communities to pull together during those awful Covid lockdowns but it seems we’ve slowly gone back to our old ways. I know I could do with making more time to check in on those around me. This is one of the things I loved most about Birdie Greenwing, that reminder that we’re all in this together, we don’t know what each other is going through and we don’t know who might be feeling really lonely. I loved the way Ericka explored the theme of loneliness, I think it is really important for us to think about how loneliness effects those around us.
I feel like I’m lucky enough to call Ericka a friend now (if you look in the Thank-you’s in the back of the book you’ll see Ericka really kindly mentioned me which meant so much to me). Anyway, I know that Ericka found writing her second book really challenging because she cares so much about her characters and her readers. I think it’s so clear to see that she put her heart and soul into this book. I loved all of the characters and felt like they jumped off the pages and straight into my heart.
In Goodbye Birdie Greenwing, Ericka gives us a masterclass in balancing the heartbreak with moments of humour, I laughed and cried and gave the book a huge hug at the end. All I can say is grab a cup of tea, preferably in a witty captioned mug (this will make sense when you read it) and settle in for a great read. I really hope that you’ll love it as much as I did.
You can support me, and independent bookshops, by buying your copy here and you’ll also find links for all my previous recommendations for Jo’s Workout Family too.
