Each character is strong with survival instincts, however these traits are expressed differently throughout Day’s novel. This consists of Marisa, Kate and Jake’s mother, Annabelle. For this reason I applaud Day in taking meticulous care with her narrative.Įlizabeth Day appears to have strong female leads within Magpie. The writing in part one seemed a little chaotic, however I believe this to be intentional to suit where the plot is going. It was only at the end of part one that my interest began to peak. The first part of the novel was quite steady and I found it quite tricky to read. The point of views work well in this novel as it gives an insight into Marisa and Kate’s background. Magpie is written in three parts, to allow the reader to see Marisa and Kate’s point of view in relation to what’s happening inside their house.

Magpie tackles women’s issues within family roles and questions what it is that makes a women, a mother. If you were looking for a romance novel however, you would be mistaken with this novel. Magpie is about how their lives weave into each other and how a very complicated love triangle can occur in a very unexacting way. The reader is soon introduced to Jake and Kate, as they all live together. Magpie begins through the point of view of Marisa, a creative individual who illustrates children’s stories for a living. Instead Elizabeth Day has used other associations with magpies, to help tell this twisted tale. Magpie does not follow the whimsical tune associated with magpies. How far will she go to find the answer – and how much is she willing to lose? ‘A pacy, stylish thriller in which suspense is accompanied by fist-pumping feminism and, perhaps toughest of all, hope.Magpie by Elizabeth Day, Hardback, 256 pages, HarperCollins, Waterstones, £14.99 That the woman sleeping in their house will stop at nothing to get what she wants. And she trusts him – doesn’t she? But Marisa knows something is wrong. Is it the way she looks at Marisa’s boyfriend? Sits too close on the sofa? Constantly asks about the baby they are trying for? Or is it all just in Marisa’s head? After all, that’s what her Jake keeps telling her. In Jake, Marisa has found everything she’s ever wanted. She puts her toothbrush right there in the master bathroom, on the shelf next to theirs.

She makes herself at home without any self-consciousness. It is the book that was missing’ LISA TADDEO, AUTHOR OF THREE WOMEN AND ANIMAL ‘Magnificent: I read it one sitting’ KATE MOSSE, AUTHOR OF THE CITY OF TEARS Sometimes Marisa gets the fanciful notion that Kate has visited the house before. Terrifyingly BRILLIANT’ MARIAN KEYES, AUTHOR OF GROWN UPS ‘A book that needed to exist in the world.

Magpie elizabeth day twist