Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman

This book contains a series of connected short stories all centred around a house in Massachusetts. In the first story we meet the builder of the house who goes off to sea with his sons who are killed when they all drown. A blackbird, the son's pet returns to the house and blackbirds continue to be symbolic throughout the book of the history of the house and the tragedy that befell its first owners. The house is also home to a ravaging amount of fruit trees and as it becomes weathered and less lived in over the years, the book follows the inhabitants and the various things they do to the house which turn up later in the book under the gaze of a different person.

Hoffman definitely had a gift with prose and this is probably the best book I have read by her. Partially because without over-exposing its many character, themes and symbols of the house are kept alive throughout the book. The way all the stories which could also be read separately, are connected is ingenius and the house becomes a magical place with a vivid history. The reader can picture the different things which happen to the house over the years and it is this, in my opinion that makes the book such a gift to its readers. I read it extremely quickly.

Widely speaking the book shows how every place has a history and how the 'spirit' of previous inhabitants can remain and can shape a livelihood. The house remains msotly neglected throughout the book and all the characters are confronted with a sense of loneliness, sadness and acceptance of their lot.

I would highly recommend this book.