The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Allen, Sarah Addison. Other Birds. St. Martin’s Press, 2022.

Other Birds is split into 22 chapters, with occasional first-person interludes told from the perspective of the various ghosts that haunt the island where it is set. It takes place over the course of a summer in the life of Zoey Hennessey, a young adult woman who has left her home in Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend school in Charleston and spend the summer exploring the town that her now-dead mother called home.

Zoey arrives in Mallow Island with the expectation that she will grow closer to her departed mother, Paloma, by spending the summer in the apartment that Paloma once owned. Though Zoey indeed finds the apartment intact and ready for her when she arrives at the Dellawisp (the small apartment complex in which it is located), she is disappointed to discover that it is bereft of any personal flair on Paloma’s part. As a result, Zoey increasingly begins to turn her attention to the other residents at the Dellawisp. She is charmed by the pernicious island birds from which the apartments derive their name, dellawisps, and is amused to find her invisible pet bird, Pigeon, interacting with them. She also quickly becomes fascinated and endeared to Frasier, the complex’s caretaker, and her four neighbors, Charlotte Lungren, Mac Garrett, and two sisters, Lucy and Lizbeth Lime. In the morning, Zoey discovers that Lizbeth Lime, the busybody of the complex, has been found crushed by her own bookcase.

In the wake of Lizbeth’s death, Frasier tasks Zoey with the job of looking through Lizbeth’s cluttered apartment to attempt to find a story that Lizbeth insists she has been writing her entire life so that the story can be passed along to Roscoe Avanger, Mallow Island’s most famous writer. Charlotte, who has been standoffish with Zoey despite her friendliness, swallows her pride and apologizes, offering to help Zoey sift through Lizbeth’s belongings. Zoey agrees, and the pair begin to develop a hesitant friendship.

In Norrie Beach, California, Lizbeth’s son Oliver is living with a group of young socialites in the hopes that one of them, Garland, will have her father will hire him to work at the Rondo, an environmentally conscious hotel that Oliver has his sights set on. Oliver has fled to California as a means of escaping his mother, Lizbeth, who was neglectful and abusive toward him as a child. Oliver has become increasingly dissatisfied with his life in California, but is initially resistant when Frasier contacts him about his mother’s death. Oliver is prepared to sell her estate and move on, but Zoey, who has gotten his number from Frasier, refuses to let the issue rest. Gradually, Oliver and Zoey strike up a friendship.

Charlotte and Zoey begin spending an increasing amount of time together, and eventually they are approached by Mac, who also lives at the Dellawisp. Charlotte is initially skeptical, but Zoey’s kindness toward Mac proves well-earned as he begins to accompany them for their talks and cook them delicious meals. Mac is a chef at a local restaurant, Popcorn, and he is haunted by the ghost of his mentor, Camille, who raised him and taught him to cook. It becomes increasingly clear that Mac has a romantic interest in Charlotte, a fact that Charlotte denies but that Zoey is attuned to.

As the novel progresses, the reader learns more about significant events from the pasts of certain characters. Through her ghost story testimonials, for instance, it becomes clear that Lizbeth’s hatred of her sister Lucy is rooted in the fact that Lucy, who struggled with addiction as a young woman, was responsible for the dissolution of the relationship between Lizbeth and her great love, Duncan. Furthermore, Oliver is not in fact Lizbeth’s child; he was the product of Lucy and Duncan’s relationship. Meanwhile, the reader is apprised of more and more information about Charlotte’s childhood, which took place in a religious cult known as The Church of McCauley. Minister McCauley was a radical religious fundamentalist who made enormous profits off of his congregation and was responsible for the death of Charlotte’s childhood best friend, Pepper, who starved as a result of the camp’s poor conditions. Charlotte stole McCauley’s money and has been on the run ever since.

In California, Garland’s father returns home and is angry that she has not found work. He informs a dejected Oliver that there are no positions at the Rondo. Oliver decides to go home to Mallow Island. Frasier sets him up in his mother’s old apartment at the Dellawisp. Zoey gives Oliver his mother’s diary, and Oliver throws it away. Lizbeth’s ghost panics at this, and Frasier realizes the story is in the diary. He learns about the circumstances of Oliver’s birth, but does not tell anyone. Zoey invites Oliver to her birthday dinner. In the midst of the birthday dinner, Zoey, Charlotte, Oliver, and Mac hear noise in Charlotte’s apartment and investigate. They are accosted by Charlotte’s mother, Sam, who insists that Charlotte stole Minister McCauley’s money as well as her best friend’s identity; Charlotte’s real name, she says, is Pepper Quint. Lucy Lime appears and confronts Sam, and Sam is arrested. Charlotte is prepared to flee, but Mac convinces her to stay, and together they let go of their past demons. Oliver and Lucy share a moment of reconciliation, though Lucy does not reveal she is his mother.

At the end of the summer, Zoey prepares to leave for school. Charlotte and Mac have begun a relationship, and Oliver is settled in at the Dellawisp. Camille and Lizbeth have managed to let go of their pain and move beyond their time as ghosts. As she leaves for school, Zoey leaves Pigeon on the island, and it is revealed that Pigeon is in fact Paloma, whose spirit has taken the form of a bird.