The family realises they have a chance to stop the theft and change the family fortunes. They also all recognise Great-grandma Violet, only she is now 8 years old. They each know who they are and they recognise each other. The next morning they all wake up and find themselves in 1931 – not together but all in and around Almbury Manor. The same night some family jewels belonging to a guest was also stolen. Great-grandma Violet also lives with them and this night she tells them how the family fortune had been lost in 1931 when the Bellamy Bird was stolen. The family are struggling financially and when Tom comes home to say he is going to be laid off the conversation turns to cost cutting. The story opens in contemporary times where Nina and Tom Bellamy along with their two children Freddie and Jamie all live in London in a tall thin house with many staircases. When author Clare Havens offered the book for a review I jumped at the chance. My Thoughts: I first heard about THE BELLAMY BIRD when a group of online buddies were discussing it avidly – words being used to describe it such as Famous Five, Hercule Poirot and the Swallows and the Amazons were being bandied about in very positive ways. Modern day siblings, Freddie and Jamie, descendants of the Bellamy family, go back in time to try to prevent the robbery and secure their family’s future with the help of some mischievous schoolboys, a group of sailing-mad children and boat called Lapwing. On Midsummer’s Eve in 1931 the statue is stolen, causing the downfall of the Bellamy family and the loss of Almbury Manor. Opening line: Nina Bellamy carried the heavily laden laundry basket down the narrow stairs.īlurb: Almbury Manor is the ancestral home of the Bellamy family who own a priceless heirloom, a golden statue known as the Bellamy Bird, a gift from an Indian Prince – solid gold and encrusted with precious stones, the Bird is quite priceless.

The Bellamy Bird by Clare Havens