Something for the Birds is an unusual and engaging memoir by a wellknown artist and personality. She traces her roots from her childhood in Timaru and back to her Irish ancestors, her bohemian life as a student and her marriage to celebrated psychiatrist Fraser McDonald. Jacqueline Fahey has always lived flamboyantly and courageously, and her crucial position as a painter in the vanguard of feminism since the early 1960s is clear without being made an excuse for self-importance. Something for the Birds is packed with stories, often hilarious and tragic together, and with constantly fizzing wit and style. It is extraordinarily lively, amusing, sad and utterly readable. Brilliantly illustrated by the author.