Thanks to Goodreads and Knopf Books for this copy, which I won in a giveaway.

All the Birds, Singing, by Evie Wyld, is the story of Jake Whyte. Jake is an Australian who is currently residing, or rather hiding, on a small English island, where she is a sheep farmer. When we meet her, she is discovering another one of her sheep has been killed. Jake is unsure what is killing her sheep, but she is determined to keep them alive.

The story has two main plot lines that appear in alternating chapters. The first story is a continuation from when Jake finds the dead sheep. We learn about her life presently, on the sheep farm. We do not learn about Jake's back story in these chapters, but we get a sense that she has suffered some sort of tragedy that makes her lead a life of isolation.

In the other chapters, we learn about Jake's life prior to running her own farm. These chapters are in reverse order and slowly unfold a tale that explains why Jake is in hiding, why she is reluctant to talk with others or make any sort of human connection.

The writing was beautiful. The sentences were simple, and at times even fragmented, but the language was rich. This was a quick read, partly due to sentence structure and length, but also because I was intrigued enough by the story that I read it almost straight through.