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I've just finished this and really enjoyed it. It is a combination of detective story and historical romance.
It is about a taxidermist and rare bird (of the feathered variety) expert. He is involved in a race with a couple of other dodgy characters to find the only Bird of Ulieta. This was a bird which was shot and brought back to the Uk two centuries earlier by a naturalist Joseph Banks who sailed with Captain cook. It was stuffed and mounted and no other specimen was ever found, living or dead. In order to try and solve the mystery of the wherabouts of the bird, he tries to discover more about the life of Joseph Banks, in particular a love affair which Banks is believed to have had with a mysterious woman who is known as Miss B.....e.
As well as telling the story of the modern day search for the bird, the book also tells the parallel story of the love affair between Banks and the woman which is a beautiful story of love, respect and dignity. To be honest I was more intrigued with this aspect of the book, than the modern part of it. But it is all a good read nonetheless and although the love story part of it is fiction, a lot of the background is actually factual. The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta really was discovered by Joseph Banks.
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Give me the gratuitous sax and the senseless violins.
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