Nest (Inga Simpson, Hachette)

Following a break-up with her long-time partner and the death of her mother, artist and bird lover Jen Anderson retreats to the Queensland sawmill town of her youth. She buys a secluded property among regrowth forest and sets up her studio like a birdwatcher’s hide to better examine the comings and goings of her feathered subjects. Jen’s affinity with birds permeates this novel; through her eyes we observe the characters and pecking orders of the robins, cockatoos, parrots and other wild things who share her forest. But when a local girl goes missing, recalling a disappearance from Jen’s own childhood, she can feel the town’s paranoia and her own unresolved history closing in on her. Readers of Inga Simpson’s charming debut novel Mr Wigg will recognise the author’s keen eye and vibrant descriptions of the natural world. It’s a joy to linger with Jen as she sketches the wrens playing outside her studio, or observes the wallabies looking up from their grazing. The human events—the disappearances, town politics, and Jen’s own past—are revealed slowly and deftly, to a satisfying conclusion. Nest is a perfect book club read, and while not as overtly heart-warming as Mr Wigg, it manages to be life-affirming on its own terms. 

Richard Bilkey is the ereading content manager for Samsung Australia