Australian-born, London-based writer Evie Wyld was recently named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists for 2013, and her second novel, All the Birds, Singing, is already garnering similar praise to her much acclaimed debut, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice.

All the Birds, Singing tells the story of Jake Whyte, a young, rather reticent woman. She lives on a farmhouse on a remote island off the English coast, alone all but for her dog and a flock of sheep. But with the deaths of several of her drove, and the arrival of a strange homeless man to the area, her isolation is suddenly invaded, and she is forced to make connections to those around her that she had previously, and resolutely, rejected.

As the mystery of the flock’s deaths slowly unfolds, Wyld capably interlaces Jake’s gloomy past with her secluded present. The scenes shift from the harsh, hot Australian landscape from which she escaped to the eerie cold of the British Isles, as chapters leap from one side of the world to the other. There is certainly a sense of menace that lingers on the pages of Wyld’s novel, a menace that we can’t quite place. It may be something lurking amid the trees of Jake’s farmhouse property, or it may be someone chasing her from the desert country from whence she came.

Wyld’s stubborn heroine remains the most complete of the story’s characters; others often seem too thin, their presence slightly contrived. Though this will no doubt frustrate some, the beauty, simplicity and tension of Wyld’s prose, and her skill at reflecting Jake’s moods against the weather and wildlife of her severe surroundings, are exquisite.

Nicole Mansour