I’ve been thinking lately, as we all do. But I’ve been thinking specifically about what makes a great book, as opposed to merely a mediocre book. I won’t bother conjecturing about what makes a bad book, even though lots of those get published as well and sometimes even acclaimed as bestsellers. In my opinion, the [...]
My father once wrote a poem for my mother, before they were married. Although he was Polish, he had an amazing command of the English language, rather like a Joseph Conrad or Vladimir Nabokov. So here are his words of love, sixty years on, in all their time-locked beauty. You asked me how I [...]
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive! This time I’m not talking about the tangled web of betrayal. It’s true that I had a rather addictive habit of droning on and on about betrayal some time ago, when I was in the thick of it. And it’s also true [...]
This is what one reviewer had to say about my novel, “Once Upon a Thousand Hills”. The combination of the Rwandan Genocide, contemporary London and a quirky young woman rebelling against her Jewish upbringing immediately caught my attention. Although Naomi seems to be a happy-go-lucky young woman, we soon learn that her life is riddled with [...]
Extract from ONCE UPON A THOUSAND HILLS. Tense interview between sex shop worker Naomi Lieberman and Rwandan Director of a London refugee centre. I step inside the room, closing the door behind me. “Hello, I’m –” And suddenly, I stop. I’m lost for words. Even though only two words need follow. “Naomi Lieberman?” I nod. [...]
I started writing this Blog in November 2017, just after my husband and I split up. How long will the pain last? I remember asking a friend who had been through a similar break-up. “Eighteen months,” was her answer. I remember sucking in my breath. At the time I could barely get through a single day without [...]
Who, me? Racist? Never! That’s probably what they all say. Or at least half of them. And genuinely believe it. And then go on to say another crass, inadvertently racist comment that just sort of slips out of their loose, unthinking, politically incorrect tongues. But I’m NOT being racist. I’m really not! It’s just that [...]
Wendy Skorupski 