The Confession by Jessie BurtonThat Saturday - an early winter's afternoon on Hampstead Heath - Elise had actually been waiting for someone else. The Rúin by Dervla McTiernan Cormac leaned forward to peer through the windscreen, then nearly cracked his head on the steering wheel as the car bounced through another pothole. Shite. Lanny by … Continue reading My Reading – November 2019
‘In time meet and convenient’ – Betrothal in Early Modern England
Once a man had settled on the qualities he wanted in a spouse, and with the help of family and friends had sought such a woman out, courted her and secured not only her own agreement but that of her family, the next step to be taken on the path to marriage was betrothal. Betrothal … Continue reading ‘In time meet and convenient’ – Betrothal in Early Modern England
In My Garden – Hellebores
Hellebores are evergreen perennial flowering plant, part of the Ranunculaceae or Buttercup family. They originated in both Europe and Asia and now have numerous varieties of hybrids. The flowers have five petal-like sepals surrounding a ring of small cup-like petals developed to hold nectar. They bloom through winter and spring with the sepals remaining on … Continue reading In My Garden – Hellebores
Book Review – Crimen Exceptum: The English Witch Prosecution in Context by Gregory J Durston
Despite years of cool-headed scholarship over several decades, the idea still persists in the popular imagination that during the period known as the 'witch craze' millions of women were rounded up and burned at the stake often for nothing more than their skill with herbal remedies. While thousands of women, and men, believed to be … Continue reading Book Review – Crimen Exceptum: The English Witch Prosecution in Context by Gregory J Durston
My Reading – October 2019
Fallen Skies by Philippa GregoryStephen's mouth was filling with mud, wet slurry pressed on his eyelids, slid into his nostrils like earthworms. The Sisters of Arden on the Pilgrimage of Grace by Judith ArnoppWe run, heads down through the darkness, away from the cries of our dying friends and the sickening thud of their falling … Continue reading My Reading – October 2019
Book Review – Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory
It is 1920 and the Great War ended two years ago. Seventeen-year-old Lily Pears had done her best to ignore it. She is a chorus girl with a beautiful voice, who performs under the stage name Lily Valance. Her widowed mother has poured all her dreams into her daughter. Helen Pears runs a shop on … Continue reading Book Review – Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory
My Reading – September 2019
The Second Sleep by Robert HarrisLate on the afternoon of Tuesday the ninth of April in the Year of Our Risen Lord 1468, a solitary traveller was to be observed picking his way on horseback across the wild moorland of that ancient region of south-western England known since Saxon times as Wessex. Tidelands by Philippa … Continue reading My Reading – September 2019
7.31 from Flinders Street
air horn blasting as ribboned light streaks intodark suburban nightrhythmic click-clacksomnolent rockingnodding headsdrop into uneasy dozereader musing book abandonedunseeing eyes reflecting windows' life blaring ringtonequickly answeredtrain's near Coburg be there very soonspeed decreasingslowly slidingtoward the platform'sblazing lightsingle cyclistbike beside himoutstretched handreaching for the doortravellers jostlingonto the platformcrunching footfallsfade into the night _____________________________________________Image by Bianca Mentil … Continue reading 7.31 from Flinders Street
My Reading – August 2019
The Almanack by Martine Bailey'An unlucky day for travel.' The phrase tolled like a doom bell in Tabitha's skull as she woke. The Postmistress by Alison StuartTock, tock, tock...The muffled tick of the marble and gilt clock on the mantelpiece beat out the minutes of Adelaide's life.
When This Eclipse is Done
I know this pain, this anguished lonely night. My life was so before you gave your heart To me and God did bind us man and wife. Two souls now one, no man can drive apart. Your Love’s alchemy has so altered me, My ice bound heart thawed by your loving glance, That every breath … Continue reading When This Eclipse is Done
