The Clearing - A Memoir of Art, Family and Mental Health, by Samantha Clark At the beginning of The Clearing we meet Samantha Clark as an excited six-year-old, sitting in the back of the car on a drive through Scotland with her Mum and Dad. She is astonished by the space rolling out around her,… Continue reading Book Review : The Clearing
Making pinch pots I posted on Instagram the other day for the first time in a few weeks. I hadn't felt the urge to put a photo and caption on there recently. Maybe it was down to the "lockdown wall" which I - and many other people - seemed to hit toward the middle of… Continue reading Simple Ceramics
Hallowe'en is upon us, though I prefer the old word Samhain. A time when the boundary between nature and the supernatural is thin. The spirits visit, witches and warlocks are out and about - maybe they are just ordinary people in fancy dress, but can you always be sure? The other day I found myself… Continue reading Supernatural – Stories for Hallowe’en
Oooo hello! I am still here...grab a mug of tea and a digestive...I hope you are OK. Hasn't 2020 been weird, time wise? Wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey as Dr Who (in their tenth incarnation) might say. I've had weeks which seemed to last mooooonths, life buffering like a dodgy feed in a zoom call, and then the past… Continue reading What I have been doing for the past eight weeks…
My slightly battered copy read on the beaches of East Yorkshire, sometimes while eating haddock and chips. I had never heard of Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher or How to Cook a Wolf until a few weeks ago, though I have a good collection of cookery books – or food books I suppose (so many are… Continue reading Book Review: How to Cook a Wolf
Twelve years ago we went on our honeymoon to Wales, with a seven month old baby there was no way I was getting on a plane and anyway Pembrokeshire is gorgeous. We stayed in Solva, up the hill from the harbour, and spent our time quietly. We found lovely restaurants, cafes and galleries while wandering… Continue reading Our Garden
The Light in The Dark a Winter Hournal, by Horatio Claire (Paperback edition, Elliot & Thompson) I first reviewed The Light in the Dark (pub. 2018) in January 2019, in the hardback edition I borrowed from the library. The book is wonderfully written of course, the words and ideas are the important thing, and my… Continue reading Review: The Light in the Dark
Bone China by Laura Purcell Fiend as I am for a spooky tale I immediately requested this when it popped up on NetGalley...: In the caves beneath a remote house on the Cornish coast Dr Pinecroft and his daughter, Louise, have created a sanatorium in an attempt to find a cure for consumption. Pinecroft is… Continue reading Review: Bone China
The Ice House by Tim Clare (Canongate) Delphine is an old woman. For years she's lived with Thompson her dog, and Martha, a long-time - though not human - friend she made as a young girl. We join this story in a melancholy place. Delphine has cut herself off to concentrate on her studies; she… Continue reading Review: The Ice House
You Are What You Read by Jodie Jackson (Unbound) As I clatter out this post on the deadline - pretty much like any number of journalists are required to do ten times a day, apparently - we've just had the European Parliament elections, Trump (ugh) is in the UK , politics seems quite insane and… Continue reading Blog Tour: You Are What You Read
