Tag: writing

How did you use that extra hour?

It’s the day after the clocks went back and it’s one of those Sundays that seems to have gone on and on.

I was up early and did all the ironing, fed the dogs, order a dog harness, water bowl, poo bags and three motion sensor lights for the landing, made a pot of tea, scored eight on my daily popquiz – Popquizza.com – and finished an episode of The Rest Is Politics US before the clock showed seven-fifteen.

By eight o’clock, I’d walked the dogs and was ready for breakfast.

I’ve managed to tick loads of things off my to-do list, although by three o’clock this afternoon I was flagging and the dogs were doing circles because they were so hungry.

Mr Grigg has dug up four lots of leggy lavender for me to replace, and there is more planting to come.

I’ve also gone mad with the bulbs again, ordering with gay abandon from Farmer Gracy and then bricking it when a massive box the size of Matabeleland arrived on the doorstep with a smug look on its face.

It’s half term in Dorset this coming week but no doubt the weather will be dreadful, so the chance of me finding room for 90 narcissi bulbs is pretty remote.

Two years ago, I ordered so many tulips I had to enlist the support of Number One Son and the tiny grandson who waddled around in dear little wellies and was armed with a lethal dibber.

We managed to plant them all but, of course, I was away when they flowered, so I missed the lot.

With just five days of October left, it’s been a busy month.

And now the nights are darker, it’s time for slowly simmered stews, log fires and a ridiculous binge on all four series of Stranger Things to remind myself of the plot and premise before the new one drops at the end of November.

I’m going to try to pull my socks up and blog at least twice a week, but as my late mother used to say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

That’s about it.

Maddie x

October book reviews

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance review copy of these two novels in exchange for an honest review.

I’m currently reading Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall, who is coming to speak at the always excellent Bridport Literary Festival. Set in Dorset in the 1950s and 1960s, the novel is being turned into a film by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine.

I’m also just about to start The Widow by the master of the courtroom drama thriller, John Grisham. It comes out later this month.

Good People by Patmeena Sabit *****

Expected publication 10 February 2026

The Sharaf family live in Virginia, USA, after fleeing from war-torn Afghanistan to safety in America. The couple have four children and the nub of the plot is what happens when the older daughter embraces a western way of life and rejects the family’s traditional Muslim culture.

The story is told chapter by short chapter through the voices of the people who know the family or are somehow involved in the aftermath of a terrible incident which threatens to tear the family apart. It takes a while to learn what has happened and to whom, by which time we have learned more about the family and their pursuit of the American dream.

The bystander narration works well, like a documentary, but we can never really be sure of the interal workings and motivation of the characters because we are never inside their heads. This ‘reportage’ style is effective, with unreliable narrators vying to give their opinions, making for a powerful narrative, full of speculation and sometimes prejudice.

However, it is also tricky because all we know about the family is what others tell us. At the end, we’re still not sure if the outcome is just or not, because we don’t know the truth. This is slightly frustrating, but is a really thought provoking device because it confirms or goes against the reader’s own thoughts and prejudices.

The novel does not shy away from racism and Islamophobia, and the discussions around that make it an even stronger book.

It was a compelling story, which flowed very easily. I thought the author did a terrific job in capturing the different voices in a totally authentic way.

Recommended.

A Far-flung Life by M L Stedman ***

Expected publication 3 March 2026

This is one of those novels that I romped through (apart from the middle, which sagged a bit for me) and then spent several days pondering the story.

Set in the Australian outback, mostly in the 1950s and 60s, this is a family saga which starts with a terrible tragedy and then more trauma is piled on top.

Sounds depressing, but it wasn’t. The author writes well and it’s an easy read, with short chapters from different perspectives – family and the few characters around them.

It’s about family secrets, coming to terms with awfulness and how you deal with it. Everyone is coping with their own personal tragedy and the interaction between the characters is like when snooker balls are hit by a cue.

Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans (a much better title than A Far-flung Life) was made into a successful film. I’m not sure that this would work so well, as some of the subjects tackled are difficult to handle on the big screen although, in the novel, they work because the reader empathises with the characters, largely because of the writer’s skill.

I enjoyed this book and will recommend it. I didn’t love it and, to be consistent with my ratings, I’m giving it three stars.

Ten years a columnist

I’ve just penned my 500th weekly column for The People’s Friend magazine.

You’ll have to wait a little while to read it, but I’ve worked out that’s about 300,000 words in the last decade.

Cripes!

I could have written a J R R Tolkien-like epic at that rate, if only I’d put 600-700 words down towards it every week for ten years.

Still, the gig at The People’s Friend – the world’s longest-running women’s weekly magazine – is a joy, especially as it came to me without any pitching on my part.

Back in 2006, I started studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in humanities with The Open University, alongside working full time.

I took two creative writing modules as part of my studies and, in 2011 I was awarded a first class honours degree. It was a wonderful experience, and I’ll never forget the graduation ceremony, surrounded by family and friends and fellow graduates.

As part of the first creative writing module, I started a blog called The World From My Window in which I charted everyday life.

I was put on to blogging by my old flatmade, Gail, who runs the fashion and book blog for over-50s, Is This Mutton?

It was a good move – the blog got me and my writing out there and attracted the attention of The People’s Friend, whose editorial team just happened to be looking for a weekly columnist.

I am forever pinching myself for my good fortune. And the day I received my official contract through the post from D C Thomson (publishers of The Beano, no less) felt like winning the Lottery.

The moral of this story is that if you love doing something, just do it. Who knows where it might lead?

Books: which are your favourites?

World Book Day was created by UNESCO on 23 April 1995 to celebrated books and reading.

It’s marked by more than a hundred countries.

In the UK and Ireland, the charity celebrates World Book Day on 7 March – today!

‘Our mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income. We want to see more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them.’

World Book Day

It’s great to get children into books from an early age. Books take the young – and the old – to new worlds. The printed word and writers’ imagination allow us to go backwards or forward in time, and meet fictional and real-life characters from history.

There’s nothing quite like curling up with a good book.

As a child to my early twenties, I was an avid reader. And then life got in the way, until, about ten years ago, I reignited my love affair with books, and novels in particular.

Back in the day, I read Enid Blyton’s Tales of Long Ago, which filled me with a longing for stories from Greek mythology. And then it was magical things like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Princess and the Goblin and The Hobbit.

At school, I loved Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. Still do.

In my early twenties, it was anything by Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck or F. Scott Fitzgerald.

My two favourite novels are Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. And I love the Steinbeck collection of linked short stories, The Pastures of Heaven.

These days, I’m into witty and thoughtful reinterpretations of the Greek myths, such as Natalie Haynes’s Stone Blind: Medusa’s Story and Madeline Miller’s Circe, historical fiction like The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams and Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield.

I’m very keen on Elizabeth Strout, Stephen King, Rachel Joyce and Barbara Kingsolver and literary fiction by John McGregor and Max Porter.

I love a good thriller, I’m not at all keen on chick lit or romance, and, most of all, I adore a quiet, coming-of-age novel set in small-town settings, such as Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal, Go As A River by Shelley Read and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Although I hated Where The Crawdads Sing. I think it was the melodrama I didn’t like.

At the moment, I’m reading an advance reader copy of Sarah Perry’s Enlightenment. So far, it’s a good ‘un.

What’s on your reading list?