Celebrated Hampshire author prepares for launch of new novel Birdeye

Judith Heneghan, a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Winchester, will be launching her latest novel, Birdeye, on Wednesday May 15.

While greatly anticipated, the big day also marks the end of what has been a six-year project for Judith - and even saw her prize-shortlisted novel, Snegurochka, published within that time.

The Winchester-born author and former director of Winchester Writers' Festival, said: “Publication day is always a mixture of excitement and nerves. A book is written in secret, if you like - no one really knows what I'm up to. Then suddenly it is out in the world, and out of my control, in the hands of readers.

“I started researching Birdeye six years ago, so it's taken a while, but in many ways it is the book I've always wanted to write.

“It is about love in many forms - between parents and children, between sisters, between friends and ex-lovers and even strangers - and how these relationships may be tested or distorted, whether we can make them right again, and how we seek to memorialise what is lost.”

Birdeye follows 67-year-old Liv who has lived a full life in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Her twin daughters have grown up, she has survived breast cancer, and she is the founder of the Birdeye Colony that has welcomed numerous wanderers for over 40 years.

Now - Birdeye is well past its heyday, but Liv resists what others see as its inevitable collapse.

This novel, described as ‘haunting, evocative, masterful’ by the award-winning author Claire Fuller, shows us what the hippy dream looks like fifty years on, when the secrets which were masked by free spirit and a determined nonconformism force their way to the surface.

Childhood memories of living in the Catskills came to inspire the novel. Judith said: “We lived near Woodstock, and I remember the hippies with their long hair and slow smiles. It has been great fun to imagine what might have happened to those who didn't sell out and move to the suburbs.”

Judith, aged 59, has bagged more than a dozen events across the region and beyond to celebrate the launch of her novel. Starting on May 15, Judith will be speaking with Radio Solent, followed by an official launch at P&G Wells, on College Street, Winchester.

Manager of P&G Wells, Steve Scholey, said: “We are delighted that Judith is launching her second novel Birdeye at P&G Wells Bookshop. We have known Judith and her work for a number of years and know that her readers will be in for a treat.”

Other events include readings at both Goldfinch Books in Alton on May 22 and October Books in Southampton on May 29, followed by more guest appearances and Q&As at numerous libraries in the coming weeks, including Tuckton, Creekmore, Parkstone, and Basingstoke.

Birdeye can be purchased from Salt Publishing, or through any good book retailer.

To find out more, please visit: https://bit.ly/4buwjzb