Sacred Hearts is set in the Benedictine convent of Santa Caterina in Ferrara in 1570, a time of upheaval with changes brought about by the Counter-reformation, the Church's response to the Protestant Reformation, threatening to alter the way the nuns lives are lived. The Church reformers have not yet set their eyes on Santa Caterina … Continue reading Book Review – Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
Music
The Feast of the Holy Innocents
On 28th December, in the midst of Christmas and New Year celebrations, sits the Feast of the Holy Innocents, also called Childermas. This day commemorates the massacre of boys aged under two ordered by King Herod to ensure the death of the newborn King of the Jews whose existence he had been made aware of … Continue reading The Feast of the Holy Innocents
One Minute Book Review – Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
This is the book which, in my opinion, should have won the Man Booker Prize in 2016. The story begins in Canada in 1991 with the daughters of two musicians, Marie raised in Canada and Ai-Ming who has arrived from China in the wake of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The story weaves back … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
The Lowest Trees
When I am writing I often listen to music, particularly that of the period I am writing about. I believe the need for music is innate in humans. Up until the present time ordinary people have constantly created music whether it a mother singing a lullaby to a child, a family singing around the piano, … Continue reading The Lowest Trees
One Minute Book Review – The Chimes by Anna Smaill
This novel is set in a dystopian future which has fallen back to the structures of the late medieval period. Life is regulated by music, the written word has been banned and memories fractured and wiped. It is not a quick read and requires some initial concentration. The prose is beautiful and fluid and carries … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Chimes by Anna Smaill
Catherine Meyrick 