Little Bird Flies

Karen McCombie's Little Bird Flies is a historical story for 11 year olds about a girl on a tiny Scottish island who dreams of a much bigger world.

What happens

Bridie MacKerrie is twelve. She lives on Tornish with her father, her little brother Lachlan and two very bossy big sisters. She was born too early, with a twisted foot and one weak arm, and the kind old Laird took one look at her as a baby and called her a little bird. (The name stuck.)

She's quick, though. Up on the Glas Crags even her best friend Will can't keep up with her. From the top she stares west across the Atlantic towards America and wishes she could go.

That wish is her secret. When Mother died, Father promised at the graveside that the family would stay on Tornish always. So Bridie keeps all that restlessness squashed down where nobody can see it.

Then the Laird's relations arrive by steamship from London. There are ladies in lace, a gentleman with a polished stick who kicks his own little dog, and a mysterious woman in full black mourning who keeps her veil on indoors. Bridie overhears two of the men laughing at the islanders and talking about borrowing money. It doesn't sound like good news for anyone.

Bridie tells the story herself, as it happens, so you're right beside her scrambling over walls and getting told off by her sisters. She's cheeky and very funny (she tells Will he's as handsome as his mother's goat). She's also properly hurt when a London girl looks at her torn skirt and her bent foot and decides she's nobody.

The island feels real. Gulls and heather, Gaelic words, Beltane bannocks and a ceilidh on the hillside. The old stories of Highland families being thrown out of their homes are part of the island's memory too.

It's worth knowing that the schoolmaster canes Lachlan for writing with his left hand, and Mother's old tales of evictions include roofs set alight. It's all told quietly, but a sensitive reader will notice it.

If you've got a reader who loves brave girls in long skirts and a strong sense of place, Bridie is wonderful company. Who hasn't wondered what's over the horizon?

What to read next

If this one goes down well, try Catching Falling Stars by the same author. It's wartime London, and Glory's family have promised to stick together whatever happens, even as every other child in her street is sent away.