Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month for August (2017)

'Like all great writers who pass too young,her readers will long for the books that might have been but alongside these regrets lies a gratitude for a life spent in literature and the wonderful books that she gave us over a quarter of a century of dedicated and prolific writing.'- John Boyne

I liked Birdcage Walk,especially late at night,when darkness and the rustle of nocturnal creatures gave an edge to the safety of the paved path.

It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence.

Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant,a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol's housing boom,and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war.

Soon his plans for a magnificent terrace built above the two-hundred-foot drop of the Gorge come under threat. Diner believes that Lizzie's independent,questioning spirit must be coerced and subdued. She belongs to him: law and custom confirm it,and she must live as he wants.

In a tense drama of public and private violence,resistance and terror,Diner's passion for Lizzie darkens until she finds herself dangerously alone.

A stirring and visceral exploration of women's lives in Georgian Britain,Birdcage Walkconsiders the traces we leave through history when we die through the voices of women who dared to think beyond the confines of their time.

Described by Kate Kellaway in a glowing review for The Guardian as'the finest novel Helen Dunmore has written',Birdcage Walk was also Dunmore's last.

Published before her death from cancer in 2017 it contains many of the themes that suffuse her novels; love,family,identity and what legacy we bequeath to later generations. Dunmore,in an interview on BBC R4's Open Book shortly before her death commented of the novel: "I think of what is the mark that any human being leaves behind,which when you are very ill you're bound to think about...'What is the purpose of my existence Have I fulfilled my existence'and the characters are asking that question of themselves..."

'This powerful novel is a fine final flourish from a gifted writer... The power Dunmore gives to lowly female lives is inescapably moving,their stories taking us on a remarkable journey into the visceral heart of the female experience in Georgian Britain.'-The Times

Helen Dunmore's pen must have barely rested after her first novel,Zennor in Darkness,was published in 1993. An extraordinarily prolific writer,she won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction for her second novelA Spell of Winterand her other bestselling fiction included the novelsThe Siege,The BetrayalandExposure.Birdcage Walk was her last novel. Dunmore also wrote books for children and YA readers,including the novels that form theIngo Chronicles. She was also an award-winning poet and her final collection,written in the months leading up to her death,Inside the Wave,is both a meditation on mortality and a celebration of life in all its strange and wonderful richness.

Publisher: CornerstoneISBN: 9780099592761Number of pages: 416Weight: 287 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 26 mm

'This is the finest novel Helen Dunmore has written...From the start,Birdcage Walk has the command of a thriller...The novel's cast is marvellous and vivid...A novel that deserves to be cherished and to last.'- Kate Kellaway,Observer

'This powerful novel is a fine final flourish from a gifted writer...The power Dunmore gives to lowly female lives is inescapably moving,their stories taking us on a remarkable journey into the visceral heart of the female experience in Georgian Britain...(Dunmore is) one of the bravest and most versatile writers of her generation...This fine,fiery novel will surely be remembered as one of her best.'- Melissa Katsoulis,The Times

'Like many of Dunmore's novels,Birdcage Walk defies categorisation...a blend of beauty and horror evoked with such breath-taking poetry that it haunts me still...she has an extraordinary gift for taking the ordinary and familiar and rendering them new. When Tredevant's growing unpredictability once more tightens the narrative,forcing the story back into the ominous and unsettling territory where it first began,it is easy to see why (Dunmore) has earned a place among the finest writers of historical fiction working today.'- Guardian

'Helen Dunmore's quietly brilliant historical novels are among the best fiction of our time.'- Jake Kerridge, Daily Telegraph

'A finely wrought psychological thriller...But it's ultimately a novel about the ways in which we remember and,as such,a fitting contribution to Dunmore's extraordinary legacy.'- Daily Mail

'Elegant prose and brilliantly researched historical detail...a devastatingly good novel.'- Sunday Express,S Magazine

'Part psychological thriller,part poetic exhumation of the past,it's a fiery,first-rate historical novel from an author who'll be much missed'- Mail on Sunday,Summer Reads

'Dunmore is skilled at claiming the huge canvasses of history and painting upon them exquisitely detailed human tragedies...Every scene is saturated with vivid period detail but Dunmore's touch is feather-light.'- Francesca Segal,Financial Times

'Dunmore just writes so effortlessly. Birdcage Walk is a joy to read.'- Stylist

'Marvellous...Dunmore has the ability to evoke a sense of place and to write passages of thrilling and disturbing action...Dunmore is a remarkable novelist who sets herself very different challenges in each new novel. She meets this one triumphantly. It will surely be a great and thoroughly deserved success.'- Allan Massie,Scotsman

'All Dunmore's novels grip the reader through her imaginative power...compelling as ever.'- Daily Express

"'An) engrossing read...A thrilling novel of loyalty,betrayal and revolution,Dunmore once again fails to put a foot wrong.'- Woman & Home

Helen Dunmore

Helen Dunmore,who died in 2017,was widely recognised as one of the most acclaimed and talented writers of her generation; in their obituary,the Guardian described her as a'poet and novelist with a flair for reinvention and making history human'.

The author of novels,short stories,numerous books for young adults and children and poetry,Dunmore first made her name with her 1988 poetry collection The Raw Garden. As a novelist,her works include: A Spell of Winter (which won the 1996 Orange Prize),The Siege (which was shortlisted for the Orange and Whitbread Prizes),The Betrayal (longlisted for the Booker Prize),Exposure and her last novel Birdcage Walk. Her other works include the Ingo Chronicles fantasy series for children and poetry collections The Malarkey and Inside the Wave which won the 2017 Costa Book of the Year Award. Released posthumously,Girl,Balancing and Other Storieswas published in 2018.