Generally speaking, I don’t like making sweeping statements. But I’m going to make one now. The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett is one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read. There. I’ve said it. And that’s coming from someone who has read lots and lots of books. I used to think it [...]
“Put your face mask on properly!” I caught my breath at the tone of his voice. This was my surgeon addressing me. The man who was about to make a big slice in the back of my neck in order to remove a cyst. This morning, as a matter of fact. And those were the [...]
Sixty-five years ago today, the world lost a remarkable young man who could almost have been my father, but never quite made it. Peter Donald Fox, 30-year-old journalist from Preston in Northern England, with a bright future ahead of him. When he visited a friend in Cyprus in December 1956, Peter had no idea that [...]
Speak Softly Speak softly, winds, and do not haunt me, Blow your whispers to the sky. Long have I heard them gently pass me, Now please leave me alone to die. . When I was young I looked around me, Looked at joy and sought within. I tried to live my days in laughter, Shrank [...]
Don’t you think that the act of looking forward to something is better than the act itself? Okay, so I admit it, I’m feeling a bit doom & gloom today. With this being the last day of the school summer holidays, my mind has been hijacked by thoughts of the fickle nature of Time. There [...]
What makes a book a bloody good read ? Of course that’s a subjective question, but in the main I reckon it’s the result of a whole host of literary aspects that align in the right place at the right time for the right reader. It might be the tightly-knit thriller element that keeps you [...]
I wrote this poem one Valentine's Day many, many years ago, when my heart was full of longing for a forbidden love. I never sent it to the man in question, because ... well, I just didn't. I couldn't. So here it is now, several decades late. Wonder if he'll finally read it? LOST LOVE [...]
Wendy Skorupski 