The Birds Fall Down (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Cicily Isabel Fairfield
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Historical realism
- Time of Work: Just before World War I and the Russian Revolution
- Setting: London and Paris
- Principal Characters: Laura Rowen, Tania Rowen, Edward Rowen, Count Nikolai Diakonov, Monsieur Kamensky, Chubinov
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction, Political fiction, Suspense, Spy fiction
- Subjects: History, Power, personal or social, Politics, Revolutionaries, France or French people, Twentieth century, Exile or expatriates, Revolutions, Social issues, Mistaken or secret identity, Betrayal, Religion, Paris, 1910’s, Feminism, Adultery, Politicians, Assassination, Mysteries, London, Trains, Aristocracy or aristocrats, Espionage or spies, Russia or Russian people, Decision making, Fanaticism, Russian Revolution
- Locales: Paris, France, London, England
Form and Content
Rebecca West’s longest and greatest work of fiction, The Birds Fall Down, is set in Paris in the period immediately preceding World War I and the Russian Revolution. Its heroine, Laura Rowen, becomes involved in the political intrigues that precede these great events and holds the fate of a double agent in her hands. The novel reveals West’s strong sense of feminist issues, not only because she focuses on a young woman’s consciousness but also because Laura’s family life—the fact that she is aware of her father’s betrayal of her mother in an...
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