Triggered by events beyond her control Emily’s life has been changed,. In a short space of time the certainty and the structure of her existence, as she knew it suffers devastating changes. She decides to start anew and in an attempt to get her life back on track moves to Wicken, a village some distance from her previous home. There Emily rents a flat in a converted mansion, hoping to be able to rebuild her life away from Cambridge and her previous life.
A close friendship with a new neighbour, Joanne and her two young children helps Emily to start moving on. The only dark cloud is Joanne’s relationship with Matt, a relationship that causes Emily great concern for her new friend and Joanne’s children.
The tension builds as we turn the pages and race towards the unexpected ending.
The book is well written the descriptions and emotions expressed are exceptionally crafted. While we read we inhabit Emily’s, mind seeing the world through her eyes, sharing her thoughts and feeling her tension.
I am a great fan of Alison Bruce and have enjoyed everything I have read of hers, I Did it For Us is no exception, it is a remarkably good book.
I have been writing short stories ever since joining the u3a and Whittlesey Wordsmiths, arguably Cambridgeshire’s most prolific and successful writing group. My first story was from memory, Tideline, the prompt was beside the sea, strangely enough, I found the prompt tricky. When I was about three or four I ran into the sea at Clacton, before either of my parents could stop me, a kind stranger saved me from drowning. Even now I can still see the water coming over my head and the distant shoreline. My youngest daughter would have been about the same age, at the time we were paddling at Heacham, I think. She was standing close by me, nearly within touching distance, when a wave appeared out of nowhere, knocked her flat and she was dragged away, the water was nearly up to my waist when I got to her and pulled her out of the water.
There is a real mixture of genres and topics George’s stories are pretty much in the adult spectrum, mine range through children’s to detective and mystery. Three Shadrack Bones mystries are included in this collection.
I will get the Kindle version sorted out in the next day or so but if you prefer a paper copy the link to Amazon is below if you don’t live locally. If you are anywhere near Whittlesey I should have copies in stock at a discounted price next week, just add a comment and I will get back to you.
We find Megan Youngblood living in a care home, it quickly becomes apparent that she is severely disabled, unable to speak and has very little physical movement. However, her sight, hearing, sense of smell and touch, as is her brain are in good working order.
As Megan lays immobile, isolated from family, at the mercy of her carers not all of who care, she recalls her life, her career as a concert pianist in her thoughts, recounting her life’s highs and the all too frequent lows. The recurring thread is her enduring love for her childhood sweetheart Gideon. Interspersed between episodes of her autobiography, are accounts of the care Megan receives and the all too frequent lack of it. The staff are overworked, poorly regarded, under resourced and in some cases cruel. As the story moves on we learn of the relationships Megan has formed, how they progress and some end, discovering also the train of events leading to her arrival in this unsatisfactory care home. We hope desperately that at some stage Megan will find a way out of these terrible circumstances she finds herself trapped in.
It is well written book, engaging and difficult to put down. I cannot say which genre it belongs to, it combines a love story, mystery and certainly a crime story, all skilfully intertwined.
I found it a brilliant read and stayed up late one night, well just into the next morning to finish it.
On the face of it, travelling to Cambridge on a rainy day would seem an unusual choice. Apart from visiting the street where one of my Great Grandfather’s lived at the time of the 1921 census (thanks to the help of a lady in the local u3a Genealogy group) I wanted to see how the city appeared in the rain, for purposes of research. Arnold Lane keeps nudging me hoping for a return and in response I have written a couple of tentative chapters.
How was Cambridge in the rain? Wet is the answer. I got off the bus at New Square rather than Drummer Street, thinking that Greggs would give me a bit of shelter. Hopefully, the rain would die down a little over a coffee and roll. Foolishly, I had left the umbrella in the car at St Ives; I remembered it once I was on the bus.
The rain was having none of it and carried on relentlessly after I left Greggs I crossed over to Wilkos and bought a cheap brolly. Even the threat of an umbrella didn’t stop the rain. Such is the nature of research, I had once driven from Cambridge to Heacham in the rain, recording it all on my dash cam for research, my wife thought I was mad, she still does.
I found the house in Norwich Street where Great Granddad had lived, took a look at the outside and set off back to the top of the road. There was a most unusual delivery van parked up further along the road, it had four wheels was pedal powered with an electric motor to assist. I had a chat with the driver; he said it was okay in windy weather particularly if it had a full load, which surprised me, it looked very lightweight and likely to catch the wind.
Pedal-powered deliveries in Cambridge
The bus around the corner in Hills Road, delivered me to Emmanuel Street; I had a short walk to the Grand Arcade and my next destination, the Central Library. There was an exhibition of life size animated dinosaur models in the arcade, I stopped and photographed them before spending an hour writing in the library.
Pterodactyl
More Dinosaurs
Benet Street, was next on the list to visit, I wanted a look at the damaged Grasshopper Chronophage at Corpus Christi College. It is a sad sight, to see this beautiful clock stilled and the grasshopper unable to munch through the minutes.
The damaged clock
Close up of the Grasshopper clock in happier times
It was time to return home so it was back to Drummer Street and to catch the bus back to St Ives. I was saddened by the damage to the clock whose picture occupies the cover of my novel, Killing Time in Cambridge. Hopefully, it can be repaired and the grasshopper put back to work, I know Arnold hopes so too.
A beautiful, black eyed, blond woman; walks into Philip Marlowe’s office and into his life. The blond, Mrs Clare Cavendish, daughter of a fabulously rich perfume maker, hires him to find a missing man, a man who is not her husband. Will he find this man, and what is this man’s connection to the woman looking for him? It is an intriguing story seeing Marlowe tangling with the rich, famous and the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, some of the characters fall into more than one category, some of them into all three.
As long as I can remember I have been a fan of Raymond Chandler and his hero Philip Marlowe. I don’t know if my first encounter with Marlowe was in a book, watching Humphrey Bogart play him in the Big Sleep on the silver screen or Chandler’s books dramatised on Radio 4, with Ed Bishop as Marlowe. Since then, Marlowe has lurked in my subconscious.
Chandler’s style is something I admire the one line descriptions are brilliant, the plots are tangled and interesting Philip Marlowe is always in the thick of the action, there is usually a fascinating woman involved, often a femme fatale.
Poodle Springs was partly written when Chandler died, it was finished by Robert B Parker, his completion of Poodle Springs is seamless Parker wrote some other Marlowe Novels I haven’t read any these yet but they are on my “To Be Read” list.
Parker and I are not the only people who think there is more in the tank where Marlowe is concerned. I have read one or two Marlowe books by other authors; I can’t say that any I had read were anywhere near as good as Chandler’s originals. That is until I read The Black Eyed Blond; Benjamin Black’s Marlowe is a damn good likeness to Chandler’s, even when stood next to him in the bright California sun.
We can’t visit the time when Marlowe walked the mean Streets or even those Streets themselves as they were then but they seem real in our imagination as we turn the pages, both in Chandler’s originals and in Black’s, Black Eyed Blond. I hope we see some more Philip Marlowe novels from Benjamin Black.
Oliver Cromwell, ‘warts and all’ painted by Samuel Cooper painted in 1656(public domain)
Oliver Cromwell is Huntingdon’s most famous son and has been voted England’s greatest man. However it is not until very recently that Huntingdon acknowledged him as a worthy citizen of the town.
It is said that it is the victors that write the history books and although Cromwell and the Puritans won the Civil War, establishing a republic for the first time in these islands, the restoration of the monarchy was ultimately a defeat. The Monarchists were the ultimate victors and until the nineteenth century Cromwell had been painted in various shades of black. It was only when historians took a more balanced view of the Civil War and Cromwell that; the acknowledgement of Cromwell’s achievements and his contribution to our parliamentary democracy became appreciated.
The restored monarchy in a very short space of time became the model offered to and rejected by Charles the first. Had he been less arrogant and accepted what was offered by Parliament, it would have saved many lives, his own included.
Back to Cromwell, he grew up and was educated in Huntingdon, he was for a time its Member of Parliament. He fell out with the town, when it became what was known as a Rotten Borough and moved to St Ives. From the time of the restoration until recently, Huntingdon wanted little to do with his memory.
All Saints Church
Huntingdon was in Cromwell’s time a much smaller place but then as now The Market Square is flanked on one side by All Saints Church; to the right of the church facing it from across the High Street is what was the Old Grammar School, now the Cromwell Museum. The building itself was rebuilt in the nineteenth century but where it stands is where Cromwell was educated. Opposite the museum is the Falcon Inn, the headquarters of the Parliamentary forces. Standing to the left of the Falcon and directly opposite All Saints Church is the Town Hall, in Cromwell’s time an earlier building stood on the same site.
The Old Grammar School now The Cromwell Museum
One of the signs
Such was the town’s antipathy to its favourite son that it dithered and delayed about erecting a statue of statue of the man, instead Cromwell’s statue was accepted by St Ives where it still stands.
Over the years various centenary celebrations of Cromwell were shunned by Huntingdon’s town council despite their popularity with the townsfolk and visitors but things have changed.
The Falcon
Bench and litter bin
Street furniture bearing a motif of his hat, a Roundhead helmet and his signature together with commemorative information signs are in place within the market place and the surrounding streets.
Tree seat
Outside the Town Hall
Oliver, as far as Huntingdon is concerned, it seems, has come in from the cold, at last.
I have been for as long as I can remember unconvinced about the value of the British monarchy, for me the institution had about it a great negativity. Why is the best choice for part of our government; the head of state, an accident of birth?
My view of the monarchy was and still is that it is a thoroughly rotten institution, I had however reserved judgement on the individuals that comprise the sprawling costly entity that is the royal family. They seemed to be more like a group of soap opera celebrities and as time has gone on with their seemingly petty squabbles, (the ones I am aware of that is,) making headline news, more so. As I paid little heed to the individuals concerned most of the mindless tittle tattle has passed me by.
Norman Baker forensically destroys not only the institution itself but the reputations of much of the large and sprawling monarchy. He highlights tax dodging, a scandalous waste of taxpayer funds, dishonesty and hypocrisy. The idea that a part of our government can hide its activities behind a wall of secrecy, denied to other branches of the government is in itself a scandal. The Royal Family’s connections with Hitler and the far right during the thirties is something we ought to know more about, a full disclosure would be useful.
The only Royal to come out unscathed from Normal Lamb’s book is Princess Anne, although the late Queen’s reputation hasn’t suffered too badly.
However, probably one of the most unsettling things in terms of our governance, highlighted by Baker, is the Royal Consent. We are led to believe that our constitutional monarch has no influence over what legislation is debated and the royal assent, a rubber stamping exercise is proof of that. What I was not aware of together with probably most of the British public, is that before any legislation is able to be debated, it first has to receive Royal Consent. This isn’t a rubber stamping exercise; the monarch has to approve any legislation to be debated.
Consent is and has been withheld, if things included in the proposed legislation are thought to be at odds with the interests of the monarchy. There are times when legislation has been sent back to be changed before it receives royal consent if at all.
This book is well researched and referenced. It is one I recommend everyone to read whether Republican or Monarchist.
I haven’t read many children’s books in the last twenty years or so, what was a near nightly experience for me when my children were small has long past. Often or not my children would be asleep before I finished reading the chapter or story, sometimes my children would have to wake me to finish reading to them.
Peter Kim is a shy elf living with his parents in their toadstool home in Glebe Wood; we follow Peter’s adventures as he explores the wood that is his home, meeting interesting characters and the friends he makes. These friends include fairies Bella and Flossie, Harry the Hedgehog and a number of other woodland creatures.
The pictures that accompany the text are beautifully drawn by a number of different artists including the author.
Children’s stories should entertain and ideally, subtly educate in the process, this book does this, it is well written, informative and entertaining, and the chapters are the right length for bedtime reading.
This is the first book in a planned series of seasonal adventures for Peter Kim with Summer, Autumn and Winter to come. These are treats to look forward to.
I had enjoyed the Guide to Grunty Fen also by Christopher South and thought more of the same would make a useful tonic for me. I was delighted to find a copy in Huntingdon’s wonderful Niche Comics and Books.
This who’s who is a definitive guide to the notable people that have made this overlooked but remarkable area of the Cambridgeshire fens what it is today. The biographies of these inhabitants and former inhabitants are informative, making for fascinating reading. It describes the sheer diversity of talent that has and still continues to occupy this close knit community.
Amongst others we learn of Ron Flash Gordon postman and Pyloneer, Daisy Dockeridge a notable Pharmacist, any number of remarkable clergymen, among them Emmanuel Partington Vosper-Jones. Vosper-Jones, installed a gingerbread house (originally a pantomime stage prop) as a confessional later following a nervous breakdown he left the clergy to become a tobacconist.
Other notables include, inventors, philosophers, parachute knitters, educationalists and an early equal rights activist Queenie Marsden
Every page is full of interesting facts that shed a light on the lives of those residing in this under discovered corner of Cambridgeshire. I am sure it won’t be long before the casual weekend tourist, anxious to see where Dennis lived and to learn more of this remarkable community,becomes inspired to buy the corrugated iron and reclaimed building materials needed to build their very own shed. Many of them will consider employing the famous Grunty Fen Architect Niven Parr to help with the design and construction.
For those seeking a simpler more sustainable but in many ways an unusual form of life Grunty Fen seems to have a lot to offer.
With an easy bicycle commute to Ely and access to the rail network those tired of city life could do worse than move to Grunty Fen
Jill who is estranged from her husband, has moved to a seaside town to run a mobile, beachside, vegetarian, snack bar.
She is caring for her young grandson, Jack but grieving for her son, Davey, Jack’s father. As Christmas nears; the anniversary of her son’s death, Jill struggles to cope with her conflicting emotions, trying to give Jack the best possible Christmas she can while dealing with the still rawness of her grief.
I am certain this story will stay with me for a very long time. It moved me in a way that surprised me. It is beautifully written, the characters are believable and well-drawn. The end is satisfying, living up to the title
The only other book that has affected me in the same way as A Gift Called Hope; is “The Catcher in the Rye” by J D Salinger.
That I remember so much of The Catcher in the Rye after reading it just once, fifty years ago, speaks volumes.
Like Catcher in the Rye, this story is about loss and the grief that accompanies the loss of a loved one.
Reaching an accommodation with loss is a bumpy road; this book describes that journey with tenderness and humanity.
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