The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley: book review

The Birdman’s Wife (2016) is about British artist, Elizabeth Coxen (Gould).

Elizabeth Coxen (1804-1841) was disappointed in John Gould’s sketches of birds – she could do better. She married the ornithologist, taxidermist, and naturalist John Gould in 1929. When John received a large collection of stuffed birds from India to classify, he asked his wife to sketch them.

From the sketches, they published ‘A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains’ with 100 coloured folio lithographs. The financial windfall funded their further works, such as ‘A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia’ and their travels to Australia in 1838.

Receiving acclaim from naturalist Charles Darwin, John and Eliza worked side by side to document and illustrate birds. John Gould rose to fame due to the life-like detailed illustrations accompanying his scientific findings. John was credited with being the birdman, while Eliza was credited with being the birdman’s wife.

This novel could have been brilliant, but it fell short substantially. There was little development of either John or Elizabeth as people, as collaborators, and as scientific adventurers. It is therefore rather a lacklustre black-and-white portrait of their colourful work and legacy.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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