A surprise christmas "stocking filler".

Synopsis
It seems a long time ago that Fitz and Gabby were together, with his work on extinct species about to make him world-famous. Now, it's his career that is almost extinct. Suddenly, though, the beautiful Gabby reappears in his life. She wants his help in tracing the history of The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, a creature once owned by the great 18th Century naturalist Joseph Banks. It soon becomes clear that Fitz is getting involved in something more complicated -- and dangerous -- than the search for a stuffed bird. To solve the puzzle, he must uncover the identity of the amazing woman Banks loved -- a woman who has disappeared from history as effectively as the specimen he is hunting. A mixture of detection, romance and history, THE CONJUROR'S BIRD has all the makings of a word-of-mouth bestseller.

I really enjoyed this fast moving page turner. It is quite an unusual novel dealing with taxidermy, conservation and endangered species and an 18th century romance. The woman whom Joseph Banks falls in love with during the 1770's is a wonderful fictional creation - she is quite modern in her outlook, without being totally unrealistic, she is a realist about the situation she finds herself in, but also passionate about the countryside, wildlife, and the paintings she did. The characters in the modern sections of the book don't leap off the page in quite the same way, but they are all engaged in a fantastic quest - to find The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta more than 200 years since the only specimen ever found was last seen.

I have hardly been able to put this down, and would have finished it last night if I could have just stayed up a bit longer but as it was I had to wait untill after work today to read the last 60 pages - it was worth it.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

To be released at the Birmingham meet this afternoon, where, if it is not taken away it will be put on the shelf at the back of the coffee shop.

If you have found this book, thank you for taking the time to look it up on the internet. Now please tell us what you thought of the book and what your plans for it are.

Picked up at today's BCBirmingham meetup. I have been drawn to books like this lately.

I really loved this. The description and cover make it seem like a romance but it's really a sort of scientific/historical detective novel.

The novel switches between the 'present' characters and Joseph Banks' story in the 18th century brilliantly and both sections add to each other.

Taking to BcBirmingham meetup.

Will be on shelf if not taken.

It escaped the shelf, because I was persuaded to take it away.