Cordelia’s Song

Cordelia’s Song by David Stanley (Morris Publishing) is written in the style of Watership Down by Richard Adams and offers a poignant story of a group of magpies who are fighting for survival, and the young bird, Cordelia who becomes their saviour. Have you ever wondered what the world might look like from the perspective of other creatures? Cordelia’s Song addresses this challenge by attempting to see the world through magpie eyes.

Cordelia is a magpie, (known as ‘mytre’ in this story) who is born with two brothers to a successful magpie pair, Corzell and Corselia. They live in a beautiful and resource rich valley where their clan has lived for many generations. Corzell has a premonition that something evil is coming to the valley. A warning about two dead magpies from his friend, a friendly Kookaburra confirms his fears. The five valley clans are still caught off-guard when Krat clan, led by captain Kratt invade the valley and start to banish other magpie clans and take over the clan lands.

Corzell and others plot a defense and rebellion, but their plans are discovered by the Krat clan spies, and a battle ensures where Corzell is killed, and his partner and surviving children only just escape with their lives. After receiving a head injury, Cordelia is whisked away in the back of a ute to a property hundreds of kilometers from the valley, and with no memory of her former life, she must re-discover who she is and where she is from, before finding her way back to the valley to seek revenge on Kratt. At the remote station, where she was taken, she meets Bruce, a Chihuahua and two Pied Currawong who help her heal and adjust to life away from her family.

Cordelia also befriends and helps an injured Wedge Tailed Eagle, called Gary, who teaches her to fight in preparation for her confrontation back in her home valley. Gradually Cordelia recalls her name, the valley, her family, and her former life, but has no way of knowing how to get home, until one day she sees a way back to the valley on a TV and she recognises where she must go. Her clue is a bush fire, and she leaves the station to find the fire that leads her back to the valley and a final dramatic confrontation with the now, Lord Krat.

The second book, Cordelia’s Heart is almost ready for production and follows on from where Cordelia Song left off.

Cordelia’s Song can be purchased online by searching for the book title, or by going directly to the publisher: Morris Publishing Australia - http://www.morrispublishingaustralia.com (Paperback $31.99)