The Birdcage

In John Bowen's *The Birdcage* Peter Ash and Norah Palmer have been living together for nine years. Having never seen the point in getting married they are the epitome of a modern successful career-oriented couple; Peter is the compere for a series of 'art' films and Norah is the Script Editor for the Drama Department of a commercial television company. Why then when holidaying in Venice does Peter decide to break up their long-lasting relationship? What happens to their order and sense of self when he succeeds?

By turns wildly funny and frightening *The Birdcage* is a novel about the end of a love affair, the repercussions and the emotional fallout. A host of brilliantly created characters people the book, including Bunty Bates the policewoman, and Edward Laverick, a playwright who finds himself the object of a hunt.

Bowen creates a world that his readers can relate to and analyses the social and psychological end of a relationship. At times comical and tragic *The Birdcage* remains an original and exciting novel 44 years after its first publication in 1964.