How in the world do writers come up with a title for their books? It’s hard enough thinking of one for a blog post, let alone an entire, full-length novel! How do we do it? How do you do it, fellow blogger? What’s in a name? as Shakespeare said. A rose by any other name [...]
As a writer, I’m someone you’d be well advised to avoid at all cost. Someone you’d be even better advised never to date. And someone you’d be absolutely CRAZY to marry. (You can’t anyway, unless you’re into bigamy.) Okay, but first things first. Here are some objective reasons why you should think twice before getting [...]
I need to say some things to you, whether you read them or not. You probably won’t. But that’s okay. Now that you’re gone, I can say what I like. You have freed me, even though I never asked for freedom. My words need no longer flutter against the cage of our desire. You once [...]
When I visited the exquisite country of Rwanda eighteen months ago, together with my daughter and Errant Hubby (who was not yet errant back then, needless to say), I had no idea what was in store for me. I’m sure most people will automatically associate the name ‘Rwanda’ with the genocide against the Tutsi that [...]
SOHO SHALOM ONE It all began in a sex shop. At six o’clock in the evening of Friday 22nd March, I was just about to leave Sugar Lace and head back to Finchley in time for Shabbat dinner. And then Mohammed walked into the shop. I don’t know if his real name is Mohammed, but [...]
SOHO SHALOM, my latest novel, revolves around the life of a feisty Jewish university graduate who works in a sex shop, Naomi Lieberman, and the Rwandan-born director of a refugee centre in Soho, John Paul Chambers. The novel opens with a hard-hitting introduction set in Kigali during the Rwandan genocide. This is counterbalanced - as the [...]
FOR SOME WE LOVED is a semi-autobiographical novel based on the complex relationship between a mother, a daughter, and a monk. Here's a very brief overview, followed by the first chapter. In 1978 Leah Cavanagh, an attractive sixth form student who dreams of being a concert pianist, meets Brother Matthew Haddon on a retreat with [...]
