The Song That Sings Us

"Nicola Davies has written a lot of books for all sorts of ages. Having read this book and enjoyed it so much, I think anyone could read this or be read this story. It is incredibly rich and beautiful. It is a future-looking ecological dystopia, but I think there’s also a lot of utopia in there too. Nicola has an extraordinary way of creating a view of what a very different world could look like, and what characters within that world could be doing. It’s a very beautiful story, that’s the bottom line, and I love its subtlety. But it races along as well, it’s a fabulous adventure story. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . It throws you into the story. She knows how to put her foot on the accelerator, and then also pull it off again and calm the pace. At those points it becomes deeply poetic and thoughtful. The depth of ecological thinking that went into this book is extraordinary. She is thinking about connections through the world, of what we can all do, the role of activism and resistance and how things can really be pushed towards change for the better. It’s a sweeping story, with glowing characters. If nothing else, read this for the magnificent elephant, or the tiger captain. Woven all through the story is this idea of the connections between humans and non-human animals. It’s the kind of book that makes you wish a lot of this could actually happen. I’d give anything to be able to understand the language of other animals and communicate with them. The Song that Sings Us speaks to why I chose fiction for this interview. What she does with her storytelling carries tremendous power to inspire readers and show them what’s possible."