Sarah Reason

Estuarial Accent

The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry – Serpent’s Tail – ISBN: 978- 1781255452 I freely admit that the primary reason I purchased and read this book was because my favourite actor was cast and can be seen in the Apple TV adaptation (I have only watched Ep.1 and I am already furious at the manyContinue reading “Estuarial Accent”

Camp Canine

The Lick of Love – How Dogs Changed My Life by Julian Clary I have been a fan of this particular Renowned Homosexual (as Julian likes to style himself) ever since he first appeared on TV in the early 1980s. The fact that his sarcastic, risqué humour was accompanied by his canine companion, a beautifulContinue reading “Camp Canine “

Magical Thinking

I’m not one to judge a book by its cover, but I have been known on occasion to be intrigued by a title. In this case, it wasn’t in fact me, but my daughter, who, a year ago, spotted and sent me The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore as a Mother’s Day gift. Before weContinue reading “Magical Thinking”

Food for the soul

Stanley Tucci is one of those actors who is in a great many films I have enjoyed, and while he is rarely the ‘star’, his performances are always memorable. I have always rather liked him; he exudes a warmth and charm that is hard to resist, especially if, like me, you are attracted by intelligenceContinue reading “Food for the soul”

My name is Sarah, and I am a book addict

“Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather…” John Keats I am writing this surrounded by books. My books, my partner Geoff’s books, our parents’ books… This has always been the condition of my life. I grew up in a home stuffed with all kinds of books, every room filled with them. I readContinue reading “My name is Sarah, and I am a book addict”

Try to Remember

I’ve been thinking a lot about memory lately. About how it works, how it changes, what it means in the shape of our lives and how we see ourselves. I’ve always spent a lot of time in my own distant past. I say ‘always’, but it probably only dates from when my mother died, soContinue reading “Try to Remember”

A Journey in my Head

But by the end of last week, everything had more or less fallen into place. All the hotels, crossings and appointments are booked, everything that can be done in advance has been. Excellent. Then I realised that I didn’t feel better. Well, not substantially.

Summer rain

The other reason I haven’t been writing posts recently is that I have been trying to focus on another project. I’ve had an idea for a new novel, and I got quite excited about it, because it’s the first time I’ve had anything like inspiration for fiction writing in – literally – years. It’s still very much just a WIP: I have a main character and the barest of outlines of a story arc. But it is definitely progress of a sort.

Now is the month of Maying

This is a weird time of year for me. I love the spring; blossom is everywhere, the swallows are here, we heard a cuckoo the other day – not to mention nightingales! But at the same time, I always dread the arrival of the end of April. The beginning of May has been a difficultContinue reading “Now is the month of Maying”

We need to talk about death

One often hears it said that death is the last taboo. While this isn’t generally true in all cultures, it probably is in mine (I am British – even now, we don’t much like to talk about our feelings). But it wasn’t always this way. In Victorian Britain, much was made of death, probably becauseContinue reading “We need to talk about death”