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Looking high and low
The first and last time I visited San Francisco, I was seven months pregnant. I was adamant, however, that a swollen belly and slightly swollen ankles wouldn’t keep me from trudging up and down the city’s hills with their wind and sun and their views of the water. It was summer and although I’d been […]
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All by herself
I peer down from the top of a windswept cliff, 30 feet below into clear turquoise water. The air is warm. The sky, a cloudless blue. My uncle’s family is far away, back at the cottage they’ve rented at this beach town on the southern coast of Sicily. There’s a flat half-circle bit of stone […]
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Postcard moments
I’m sitting at the edge of the vegetable garden in my parents backyard. I’m six years old. The sun is warm on my skin. I’m playing with clods of dirt beside the tomato plants. My mother walks in among the stalks, picking tomatoes, brushing her fingers over the leaves. The earth at her feet is […]
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Getting shivers
A review of 6 Shorts: The finalists for the 2013 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award There are times when I’m traveling, or even walking down the street in my own neighbourhood when I see something and get shivers. The beauty of it. The quiet of it. The intense feeling I get when […]
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Ninjas, aliens, and robot monsters – woohoo!
A review of Super Ninja Alien Robot Monsters, by Jeff Bilman I’m sleeping. Rowan gently slaps my forehead in a way only a four-year-old boy can. It’s almost a caress. Almost. “Mamma, is it time to wake up yet? Do you want to play Pretend-Ninja-Ben-10 with me?” It’s 6am. No, I do not want to […]
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A brilliant view
A review of Nobilissima: A Novel Of Imperial Rome, by Carrie Bedford Walking the paths of the Roman Forum in mid October, it’s remarkable how hot and steamy the city can be, even in autumn. The Forum is all columns and facades, but few ceilings, so there’s not many places where you can escape the […]
