All the Little Bird-Hearts

A Novel
by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

Shipping to the U.S. only. Please see our International FAQ for more information.

$18.99

Also available at

“A poetic debut which masterfully intertwines themes of familial love, friendship, class, prejudice and trauma with psychological acuity and wit.” ─ The 2023 Booker Prize Judges

I lived for and loved a bird-heart that summer; I only knew it afterwards.
 
Sunday Forrester does things more carefully than most people. On certain...
Read More

Published By Algonquin Books

Format Paperback

Number Of Pages 304

Publication Date 12/05/2023

ISBN 9781643756615

Dimensions 5 inches x 8.1 inches


“A poetic debut which masterfully intertwines themes of familial love, friendship, class, prejudice and trauma with psychological acuity and wit.” 

— The Booker Prize Judges 2023

“A novel both delicate and strong, illuminating the disturbing and the extraordinary to be found in the every day. Sunday is a beguiling and beguiled narrator, and her story an examination of the disjunction between humans’ private and public selves. I loved it.”
 

— Maggie O’Farrell, National Book Critics Circle winner and New York Times bestselling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait

“This is a clear-eyed and sometimes heart-breaking tale of family dynamics and relationships, of deceptions both deliberate and unconscious, and of the many ways in which familial ties and friendships often overlap, related by a narrator who will stay in your head well beyond the final page.” 

— Boston Globe

“Observations land with the startling yet welcome snap of good standup comedy. . .The result is a tightly focused story, set almost entirely in two neighboring houses on a quiet street, that’s also a gleeful skewering of social codes, a raw portrait of family life and a revealing account of neurodivergence. Sunday may shy away from attention, but Lloyd-Barlow makes her wary, vigilant and poetic voice the star in a mesmerizing debut.”
The Guardian
 
 

— The Guardian

Five Stars."Superb. Wonderful. All the Little Bird-Hearts is a beautiful, bittersweet debut…sharply evocative of both motherhood and how British society treats people with disabilities. Throughout the novel, Lloyd-Barlow’s prose sings, and has real acuteness of observation.” 

— The Telegraph

"[A] tender debut novel."

— Washington Post

"Lloyd-Barlow... succeeds in creating a tempest in a very small, provincial teapot... Lloyd-Barlow’s narrator is... an effective, thoroughly human character in a thoughtful book."

— Kirkus Review

“Lloyd-Barlow’s portrayal of Sunday’s contentment and confusions makes for a deeply humanizing representation of autism, and her prose is arrestingly sharp. This auspicious debut brims with quiet tragedies and lush emotional landscapes.”

— Publishers Weekly

“A motherhood story unlike any other, Lloyd-Barlow’s 2023 Booker Prize–longlisted debut novel is a heartfelt, firsthand account of a neurodivergent mother’s experiences of love, pain, and loss in a world that requires constant translation… an engrossing page-turner.”

— Booklist

“What a glorious, unforgettable character Vita is. And I loved Sunday's voice too, so unique, right from the off. It showed me things about autism that will stay with me. A genuinely valuable book, but more importantly I enjoyed being inside its world.”
 

— Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley

“Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow's is a distinct and poetic new voice. This novel about the complex desires behind our closest relationships is undercut with the darkness of Sicilian folklore: the fisherman who promises away his child; the lover who is a wolf; a caged magpie; burning fields.”
 

— Clare Pollard, poet and author of Delphi

 “Funny, lyrical, deft and devastating. Full of longing and love.”
 

— Amy Sackville, author of Painter to the King

“A captivating, skillfully written portrait.”

— Chicago Review of Books

 
Shipping calculated at checkout.