Please note that this title is currently out of stock but is available for pre-order. While we don’t have an exact publishing date yet, it is expected to be available within approximately 4 to 6 weeks.
£8.50
The Birdwatchers is a hypnotic literary novella about loneliness, attention, and the search for genuine connection in an age of constant distraction.
Set in a glass-bright Swiss city, Jean lives a life shaped by routine: corporate days, online nights, and a quiet sense of dislocation he cannot name. When a woman on his daily commute captures his attention, a chance misunderstanding draws him into a trio of amateur birdwatchers.
To remain close to the group, Jean adopts their rituals of stillness: early mornings by the lake, silent observation, learning how to watch. But birdwatching demands more than patience. It asks Jean to look inward, to confront the distance between longing and real connection, and to question what it means to truly see the world—and himself.
Written in precise, luminous prose, The Birdwatchers explores urban solitude, desire, and the fragile work of being present. Echoing the interior intensity of Jon Fosse and the clarity of Rachel Cusk, AJ Lawson’s striking debut novella offers an unforgettable meditation on how attention can reshape a life.
Praise for The Birdwatchers
“Psychologically exacting and intensely atmospheric.”
— Chris Riches, Daily Express
“A novel about watching and being watched, where longing and delusion blur into something dangerously real.”
— Richard Moriarty, The Sun
“Engrossing, entirely persuasive. I felt genuine shock. The world and the consciousness of the protagonist struck me as entirely original.”
— Ray Tallis, author of Aping
“Breath-taking… a compelling, emotionally and spiritually powerful book, one that speaks to our own age and, at the same time, stands outside time.”
— John Burnside
“Evocative, lyrical, and ultimately hopeful.”
— Thor Hanson, author of Feathers and Close to Home
“AJ Lawson has written a haunting meditation on modern life, on loneliness, performance, and the quiet terror of being seen but not truly known. With unsettling precision he explores the fragile space between appearance and reality, connection and display, and the selves we invent to survive. Disturbing, tender, and quietly profound, this is a book that stays with you long after it ends.”
— Robert Rinder (Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author)
AJ Lawson is an award-winning artist and writer of Scottish–Spanish descent. His paintings are held in private and public collections, including his portrait of the late poet John Burnside, which hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. He is co-founder and co-director of The Alpine Fellowship, a nonprofit foundation supporting the arts.
His writing has appeared in literary journals such as Studies in Photography, American Arts Quarterly, and Bare Hands Poetry Magazine, and he was shortlisted for the 2014 Bridport Poetry Prize. The Birdwatchers is his debut novella.
Paul Kilminster –
A thoughtful, unsettling and ultimately rather beautiful book. I received a review copy from Foreshore Publishing and read it as part of my book club.
Hazel A –
Our book club had very mixed feelings about Jean, the central character in The Birdwatchers. I think that may be one of the book’s strengths. He can be sympathetic on one page and slightly disturbing on the next.
What everyone agreed on was the quality of the writing and the atmosphere. The Swiss city feels bright, clean and ordered, while Jean’s inner life is anything but. I also loved the idea of birdwatching as an antidote to the constant distraction of modern life. To see a bird properly you have to stop moving, stop scrolling, stop thinking about yourself and simply pay attention.
It is an unusual novella and one that gives you far more to discuss than its length might suggest. I found myself thinking differently about it after hearing the reactions of the other women in our group.
I received a review copy from Foreshore Publishing and read it as part of my book club.
A F Jameson –
What a peculiar and rather beautiful book. Our book club read The Birdwatchers this month and we were still talking about Jean several days later. There are moments that are funny, moments that are sad and others that made me feel distinctly uneasy. I liked that mixture enormously. The author trusts the reader and doesn’t tell us exactly what we are supposed to think about Jean.
A small book with a surprisingly large emotional reach.
I received a review copy from Foreshore Publishing and read the book as part of my book club.
CS Franks –
I absolutely loved this. Read for our book club and probably not something I would have picked up otherwise, which is exactly why I enjoy being in a book club!
It is beautifully written, unusual and quite haunting. Jean is lonely without really admitting that he is lonely, and I thought the contrast between his online existence and the patience and stillness required for birdwatching was wonderfully done.
It’s only a short book but there wasn’t a wasted page. Recommended, particularly if you like quieter, more thoughtful fiction.
Review copy received from Foreshore Publishing.