Summary of Birdsong
In 1910, Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, stays with textile manufacturer René Azaire and his family in Amiens, northern France, to learn about the textile industry. He falls in love with René’s wife, Isabelle, and the two run away to southern France. However, troubled by guilt, Isabelle leaves him and eventually returns to her husband. In 1916, Stephen finds himself near Amiens again, this time serving as a British officer during the Battle of the Somme. The novel provides unsparing descriptions of the fighting and life in the trenches. In the 1970s, Stephen’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Benson, discovers his wartime journals and tries to reconstruct his experiences during the war.
Reasons to read Birdsong
Birdsong is a gripping novel about the First World War and its devastating effects on people’s lives and relationships. It became an international bestseller and was voted Britain’s 13th favourite book in the BBC’s 2003 survey The Big Read. Sebastian Faulks is a British writer best known for his trilogy of historical novels set in twentieth-century France: The Girl at the Lion d’Or, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray.
Setting: Amiens (France)
Birdsong is set in various places in northern France, particularly Amiens and the Somme valley.
Original title: Birdsong
Year of publication: 1993
Nr of pages: 496
