Birdcage

Millie is flying. She's spreading her wings and soaring, up and away from the filth of the city, away from the putrid yards and bloodstained alleyways, away from the crazy, crooked labyrinth of the rookeries, those last, teetering remnants of a medieval world, tucked in the shadows of the 19th-century city. Millie is six years old and dreams of skies and seas beyond her brief experience. But sooner or later she must come back down to earth. Back to the Manor, where Vincent will return any minute, to set his girls to work on the twilit streets. Back to this loft, where she's just released his songbird and lost him a precious sale. Millie can hear him, now, roaring and crashing up the stairs. Her flight is at an end, and her life is about to change its course forever. BIRDCAGE traces 25 years of Millie's story, against the backdrop of London's transformation from medieval city to modern metropolis. It's a story of angels and garrotters; of French courtesans and back-street brothels; of ghosts and cats, secrets and mysteries; of the thieves and working girls, fraudsters, tale-tellers and odd-bods who form the strange and compelling family of the Manor-a cut above the rest of the London slums.
About the Author: Nia Williams is a freelance writer and musician, born in Cardiff and now based in Oxford. Her other novels are The Pierglass (Honno Modern Fiction, 2001), Persons Living or Dead (Honno Modern Fiction, 2005), The Colour of Grass (Seren Books, 2011) and Hidden Gems (Gurning Gnome, 2014) --and her short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Wales. Nia's job involves music and words in various forms and combinations. She works as an accompanist, répétiteur, workshop-leader and teacher, and writes music, lyrics and libretti. As an associate artiste with English National Ballet, she co-leads workshops in Oxford and around the country, and she is the MD and pianist for Opera Anywhere's small touring operas. Nia's own musicals, Verity and Daddy's Girls, have been staged at theatres in Oxford, and another musical, Love Online, in collaboration with Andy Milburn, has been produced by several theatre groups. A cantata for choir and brass, Terpsichoreana, by Nia and composer Malcolm Pearce, recently had its debut performance by Oxford choir Pro Musica, and her music is due to feature in performances by international charity Open Doors and dance group Lunas Dance in 2013. In 2011 she was a librettist on the Royal Opera's Exposure programme and her work was showcased at the Linbury Studio Theatre in the Royal Opera House. Nia and mezzo Rebecca Martin recently performed her show 'Smoke and Mirrors', based on the music of Kurt Weill, and future projects include a series of mini-musicals called 'Selfies'. Nia teaches piano and performance and has led vocal and music workshops for Creation Theatre, the Birmingham Hippodrome, Live Nation Theatre, the Royal Academy of Music and several other companies, colleges and universities. Nia is a Regional Associate Artiste for the English National Ballet and co-leads their Dance for Parkinson's sessions in Oxford. She's accompanied singers in venues including a cowshed, an ice rink, any number of gardens (usually in rain and/or gales), Oxford colleges, several regional theatres and concert rooms and in the Royal Opera House.