Polly finished turning down the gas lights in her mistress’s bedroom. Exhausted, she made her way upstairs to the attic space she shared with Charlotte, the parlour maid, who was already asleep. For months, Polly had kept her swollen belly hidden under a high-waisted skirt, but she couldn’t ignore the pains that started earlier in […]
Category: Prose
Owl Wisdom
I’m the youngest daughter of a widow, fourteen today. “On the cusp of womanhood,” my mother said. “Finish your meal, then meet me in the woods.” “Where?” But she was already gone, my older sister close behind. Coat on, collar up, I stumbled in the gloom, teeth chattering, talking to myself. “If you look over […]
Stolen
A midwife all my working life, I am haunted by how much our mothers do not know about changelings. The first I encountered was at the start of my career. I was about to leave a blue-eyed new-born in the nursery while her mother slept, when I noticed a shimmer, like wings, out of the […]
At the Prater
We met at the old Prater Ferris wheel on a chilly September afternoon. The aroma of Vienna sausage and the fairground music drifting on the wind were tinged with melancholy. We watched families and young couples fill the wooden cabins before wandering off to a café, where he ordered us both a hot chocolate with […]
Freedom
Thankful that I am free to walk pretty much wherever I want, say what is on my mind, and write from the heart, every day unfurls as it must, and I follow my usual route. The sun is shining, the horses grazing, and the grass growing tall. I stop to watch rabbits gambolling in the […]
Night Shade
It’s past one when I find her. I’ve been to midnight mass and, by the time the priest wished everyone a merry Christmas, it had started to snow. I nip out the back to collect my cardboard box and sleeping bag from behind one of the new gravestones, and that’s when I see her, pale […]
The Knowing
Mother sat in a wicker chair on the doorstep of her cottage, rug over knees, wrapped in a shawl, looking up at the sky. She’d had a comfortable summer, her appetite had improved, and she rarely had to hide blood-streaked mucus in her handkerchief. Now she was constantly coughing and nodding off. We argued about […]
Does It Matter?
They had finished their midnight picnic and were lying on a blanket, fingers entwined, in the garden, in the middle of the night. There was only a thin crescent moon, like a brooch on velvet, but stars filled every crease and crevice of the sky, shimmering, twinkling and swarming. ‘It’s hard to imagine that stars […]
Red Moon, Red Coat
With their matching colours, red moon, red coat, it was just a matter of distance and perspective. She was small in its presence, but once in space she knew she would float. It was such a huge leap, from skin to moon rocks, even in new boots, gloves and thermal socks. But the colours matched, […]
Sanctuary from a Rain Storm
On a fine day, I decide to visit Norwich. I drive to the park and ride, hop on a bus and, once in the city centre, head for Elm Hill, to explore its Tudor buildings, quaint shops and courtyards, which have been used often in settings for films, and are reputedly haunted. Clouds gather overhead, […]
writing in north norfolk 