Here's the opening of my novel, Once Upon a Thousand Hills - a bizarre love story about a feisty sex shop worker seeking more meaning in her life, and an aloof director of a London refugee centre hiding from his tortured Rwandan past. Although the backdrop is dark, the punchy romance that unfolds - 20 [...]
Naomi Lieberman has flown the nest of her hometown in Liverpool to seek the bright lights of London. Despite having a degree in forensic science, Naomi finds herself working as a sales assistant at a sex shop in Soho. This is just one of many shameful secrets she has to hide from her Orthodox Jewish [...]
Does that ever happen to you? Does the strain of a particular song or a scene in a particular film, or perhaps the atmosphere captured by a particular painting, ever bring a kind of pang to your innermost being? A gush of nostalgia, longing, wishing you could be back there, or still in there, in [...]
Here's a little romantic gem from the past. THE LOVERS' DREAM To smile upon the moonlight stream And laugh and love was their only dream. To gaze contently and softly sigh, No need to fret, to fear or sigh; Just to feel the night’s soft kiss That together wrapped their hearts in bliss, No need [...]
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 [...]
Don’t our hearts just melt at a show of bravery? An indomitable spirit that doesn’t weaken under the threat of danger, even death. Real he-men. Spidermen and Supermen and Batmen, but without the silly costumes. That’s how I fell in love with my husband. Second hubby, actually, now ex. But still. Okay, so my ex [...]
You’re in my bed again, at last, tonight. You’re in my home again - or maybe prison to you, but home to me - at last, tonight. The moon is out, as it was that first night; but tonight only one pair of eyes is watching it. Yours are closed as you lie fast asleep, [...]
Wendy Skorupski 