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Is this relationship doomed?

15/7/2023

I’ve been having an on-off affair with my WIP since the end of last year. Sometimes, it’s all consuming. Sometimes, I think the relationship’s doomed and we should go our separate ways.

I’ve nailed my main character, drafted a few chapters and sketched out the plot. I even have a title. But I’m not sure if it’s too personal, and whether that’s an asset or emotional burden too big to bear.

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Haunted by the Past: The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer translated by James Young

5/7/2023

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Growing up in the outer suburbs of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, Camilo is barely aware of the poverty around him and the repression of dissenting voices under the military dictatorship. He has problems enough with his crippled leg and delicate skin that blisters in the savage sun.

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Nationalism’s victims: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

28/6/2023

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Twelve-year-old Bird doesn’t know why his mother disappeared three years ago. He doesn’t know why he and his father had to move from their large house to a tiny flat at the university, nor why his father lost his prestigious academic job. It can’t have anything to do with PACT, can it? The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act was introduced to rescue the USA from the economic and social crisis around the time that he was born.

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Connection and disconnection: Speak to Me by Paula Cocozza

26/6/2023

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Even when they’re having sex, Susan’s husband doesn’t give her his full attention. So no wonder she’s jealous of Wendy – not the other woman in the love triangle, but the phone that rarely leaves Kurt’s hand. But Susan has her own obsession: a case of letters that have gone astray when the couple moved house.

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A powerful state-of-the-nation novel: Spring by Ali Smith

16/6/2023

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An ageing filmmaker, disillusioned by the moral bankruptcy of his current project, loses the will to live after the death of his mentor. A young woman working as a security guard at a migrant detention centre is literally and metaphorically taken for a ride by a precocious twelve-year-old girl. They meet up at a railway station near the site of the Culloden massacre in Scotland where an off-duty librarian driving a coffee van without any coffee picks them up.

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Farmer, writer, influencer, tour guide, oxherd

8/6/2023

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There must be more than six degrees of separation between a boy who attends his oxen in rural Thailand and a contemporary social media influencer in the USA. But the farmer could be one steppingstone between them and the writer a link from the other end. The tour guide could be the bridge in the middle because they might need to shit in the woods. What am I on about? The answer is in these five mini reviews.

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Marriage at a Crossroads: The Fire & The Motion of the Body through Space

5/6/2023

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Two novels about a difficult patch in a long marriage, complicated by difficult relationships with the couples’ offspring. The first is the best book I’ve read so far this year. The second, by a more famous author, doesn’t come anywhere near.

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Political fiction: A House for Alice & Henry VIII The Heart & the Crown

20/5/2023

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Here are reviews of two different types of English political novel. The first is contemporary and addresses how political events impact on an ordinary London family. The second is a historical novel that gets right to the heart of one of the most turbulent periods of British history.

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Hope is an ash-hued sky #99WordStories

25/4/2023

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This week’s flash fiction challenge reminds me how I’m often slightly out of step with the majority. As I puzzled over the prompt the colour of hope, I realised that many people consider hope a virtue that you can have more or less of, whereas, for me, it only makes sense as a transitive verb. Although I do quote readers who describe my fiction as hopeful, I don’t think of myself in such terms. It’s not that I’m hopeless (in either sense of the word), but I direct my hope to specific things.

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When boundaries blur: Alone, The North Shore & A Burning

20/4/2023

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When I blog about boundaries, I’m usually berating chaotic fictional therapists. Not today. These three intriguing novels are about the liminal space between plant and human; reality and fantasy; and sanity and scapegoating within the political sphere. My short reviews should help you decide whether to cross the threshold.

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The old woman and the beast # 99WordStories

14/4/2023

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Charli Mills’ call for 99-word stories pairing an old woman and a beast hit the sweet spot this week. A month away from publication of my novel, Lyrics for the Loved Ones, there’s only one old woman on my mind. Matty confronts several beasts in this story, set across thirteen tumultuous months beginning in June 2019. I’ve captured two in my contribution. I hope it whets your appetite and doesn’t give too much away.

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Overburdened: The Plimsoll Line, Starling Days, Cat and the Dreamer, Unsettled Ground & Sorrow and Bliss

5/4/2023

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Five recent reads about characters facing life challenges that are almost too much to bear: bereavement; chronic illness; relationship crises and more. See what you think.

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Women in translation: History. A Mess & Ada’s Realm

27/3/2023

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Two translated novels, both with a contemporary and historical element, which address the female struggle for autonomy and self-expression in a misogynistic and racist world.

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A chance to win a copy of my next book

23/3/2023

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Today I’m revealing the cover of my novel, Lyrics for the Loved Ones, which will be published on May 15th. As the novel is set mostly in a UK care home during the pandemic, I thought the anniversary of the first lockdown would be the perfect occasion to show off the gorgeous design.

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On World Kidney Day, I have some advice for my year-ago self

8/3/2023

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This time last year, I knew next to nothing about kidney disease. I knew next to nothing about the vital role of healthy kidneys in keeping us well. I’m sure you’ll appreciate that a shock diagnosis on a hospital ward wasn’t the easiest way to address those gaps in my knowledge. The learning curve seems steeper when you’re already befuddled and out of breath.

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Occupied Lands: Arrested Song & Camp Zero

1/3/2023

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Let me tell you about these two novels about women’s lives in terrain under occupation by external powers. The first is a historical novel about the struggle for personal and political freedom in 20th-century Greece. The second is a futuristic dystopia about how, in the climate crisis, the wealthy lay claim to the coolest lands.

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6 positive social changes in my lifetime: trans visibility; deinstitutionalisation; reproductive rights and more

23/2/2023

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January marked ten years since I started this blog and last October I published my 1000th post. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I’m minded to celebrate. How about a retrospective?

I achieved my dream of becoming a novelist almost 8 years ago, but I want this post to go beyond my bookshelves. Yet, when I look at the world outside, with the climate crisis and increasing inequalities, the view is bleak.

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Woman Power: Daisy Jones and the Six; The Birdcage; The Witches of Vardø; Amazing Grace Adams

14/2/2023

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I think there is a deep-seated fear and resentment of female power even in situations where we don’t have much of it, so I make no apologies for grouping these novels that touch on the theme from vastly different angles. The first is a historical novel about misogyny manifest in a fantasy of witchcraft. In the second, three half-sisters are haunted by the harm done when they tried to claim their power in adolescence. In the third, a seemingly powerless and self-loathing woman takes a tortured journey through her city and her mistakes. The final novel contemplates the relative power of the singer with a rock band versus the homemaker wife who stands by her man.

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Poland and Hungary under the Soviet system: The Snow Hare & The Fawn

7/2/2023

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As the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches its second year, a couple of recent reads reminds me of how other eastern European countries have suffered under the Soviet regime. These novels are about women’s lives in the late 1940s and early 1950s: the first set in Poland and the second in Hungary. Would you believe that it wasn’t until I came to post this that I realised both titles feature animals that should be in the wild?

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Exiled: All Your Children Scattered & Sisters

2/2/2023

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I’ve recently read two very different novels in which traumatised mothers suffer a second blow in being distanced from both their children, albeit the separation is for very good reasons. The first is a translation set against the backdrop of the Rwandan genocide. The tragedy in the second is less widespread, restricted to one particular family, but nevertheless extremely painful for those concerned. Read on to discover how these books are about so much more.

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History, humour, testimony, short stories and dystopia: there’s something for everyone in these 9 new mini reviews (and 1 mention)

29/1/2023

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A year of SMART objectives or a year of letting go?

27/1/2023

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When I emailed my newsletters with a foretaste of what to expect from me in 2023, I thought I’d do something similar here on Annecdotal, plus a more detailed list of goals to monitor privately myself. So how come I’ve almost reached the end of January without doing that?

I’ve always felt a little uneasy about setting concrete objectives when I don’t possess a crystal ball. But this is the year I’ve got a marketing plan stuffed with SMART objectives for my next novel. Yet I’m more conflicted than ever.

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How did I do in 2022?

21/1/2023

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Yeah, I know I’m late with this – most people have moved on from 2022. But I thought I’d do a quick recap of my reading and writing year. Although I didn’t achieve everything I’d set out to do, I think I did okay, especially with losing several potentially productive weeks to illness.

Publication

The year’s main achievement is the publication of my novella, Stolen Summers, the prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. This didn’t only mean completing the manuscript and working through the edits, but also learning about self-publishing – which has put me in good stead for my next book.

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Testimonies of historic inequalities rooted in racism: The Help & In the Upper Country

14/1/2023

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I’m pleased to share my thoughts on two recent reads which focus on collecting the testimonies of women wounded by policies and practices rooted in racism: the first set in the early 1960s and the second century before.

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The first sabbatical #99WordStories

7/1/2023

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Hurrah, the flash fiction challenges are back and the prompt is the perfect fit for my aspirations for my first post of 2023. I always enjoy reviewing my reading and writing plans and aspirations for the previous year and listing what I hope to achieve in the year to come. This year, I thought it might be a little different: having been quite ill in late spring and early summer, I’ve been wondering how to balance work and letting go.

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