The Birds Began to Sing

 The Birds Began to Sing

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       September 3, 2025

 

Author  Jeffrey Buchanan

Distributor:      Text Publishing
ISBN:                 9781923058439
Publisher:         Text Publishing
Release Date:   26 August 2025  

   Website:   https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-birds-began-to-sing

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‘The Birds Began to Sing’ won author Jeffrey Buchanan the Michael Gifkins Prize for an unpublished manuscript by an Aotearoa New Zealand writer. In this 1960’s coming-of-age book he explores life in Taranaki, a region in the west of New Zealand ‘s North Island, where LGBTQI+ identity is repressed to portray a public face of respectability.

The protagonist, almost 15, Godfrey Barnham, lives with his parents and sister in the family-owned Balmoral Hotel, where a variety of local fringe dwellers like to gather. He is preoccupied with fictional detectives and solving crimes, so when Reggie Kingsley, the openly gay barman has been missing for five days, Godfrey’s overactive imagination kicks into gear and he is ready to use his detective skills to solve this mystery. His sleuthing brings him into contact with a variety of sexually diverse members of the community; as a result, Godfrey begins to experiment and make discoveries about his own sexuality and identity.

Readers, who grew up in the 1960s will enjoy being transported to the simpler time of those years. However, some readers may find the graphic descriptions of homosexual sex a little confronting. Although well written, this is not a book for everyone.

Fiction, General