Meet the author Christy Lefteri

29 Jun 2021 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news

Christy Lefteri joins us virtually to discuss her brand new novel, "Songbirds", in conversation with Sheilagh Matheson on Wednesday 14 July at 7pm.

Brought up in London, Christy Lefteri is the child of Cypriot refugees. She is a lecturer in creative writing at Brunel University. Christy has written two novels so far and her first one The Beekeeper of Aleppo was born out of her time working as a volunteer at a UNICEF supported refugee centre in Athens.

Christy will be talking about her new novel "Songbirds" which will be published on 8 July and can be reserved in our library catalogue today.

"It began with a crunch of leaves and earth. So early, so cold, the branches shone with ice. I'd returned to collect the songbirds. They are worth more than their weight in gold.

Yiannis is a poacher, trapping the tiny protected songbirds that stop in Cyprus as they migrate each year from Africa to Europe, and selling them on the black market. He dreams of finding a new way of life, and of marrying Nisha, who works for Petra and her daughter Angela. Nisha is raising Angela, mothering her own child back in Sri Lanka by the screen of a phone.

When Nisha disappears, Yiannis is convinced he is responsible, paralysed by heartbreak and fear. Petra is forced to care for her child again, and when little Angela insists that they find Nisha, she begins to see that Nisha hasn't simply run away, and that no one else will bother to look for her."

This event will take place on Zoom and you can book a free place on Eventbrite.  Before the event borrow The Beekeeper of Aleppo from your local library or from our digital library BorrowBox.