Long ago, a goblin lived beneath a willow, where daylight was green, and leaves rustled in the breeze. His name was Willow – Will for short. He was friends with a magpie that landed on the topmost branch each day to share gossip. One day, as Will watched a robin build a nest, the tree […]
Category: Short Stories and Flash Fiction
No One Left and No One Came
She’d been on a retreat in the middle of nowhere: no television, radio, internet or signal on her phone. She rose and retired with the sun, wrote until lunchtime, and walked in the afternoons. She’d watched a lark rise in the March sky and a falcon dive into gorse. She talked to trees and picked […]
Between Heartbeats
My slim anthology of flash fiction and short stories is now available on amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and, I believe, the rest of the world, in paperback and e-book. Please take a look and, if you like your stories quirky, strange or just plain eerie, I would appreciate your support.
Memories on the Breeze
More than one hundred and fifty years ago the garden belonged to someone else, a different family. Back then the trees were mere saplings, there was a neat path, fragrant roses, herb garden and vegetable patch. Life was simpler, with fewer gadgets, neighbours and expectations. It was quieter and slower paced. The inhabitants of the […]
Rust
The track she was following curved and swerved through ancient trees and undergrowth, muffling the sound of a gurgling stream until she passed a gap. Pushing through tangles of brambles, she glimpsed sunlight sparkling on water and slid down the bank in her haste to reach it. A river coursed through the forest and, just […]
Loving Milly
Milly lined up the pills on the windowsill. The furniture went with the bailiffs. She remembered the thunderous knock at the door – the bell hadn’t rung since the power was cut. The children were safely dispatched to their father’s new house, where they could play in the enormous garden. Milly didn’t even have a […]
Stitching Wichita
She had spent all her adult life holding a needle and thread. She had sewed and embroidered all her trousseau and her wedding dress by hand; stitched up holes in shirts and overalls; darned her stockings and his socks until her eyes smarted. Every evening, the needle in her fingers went up and down, like […]
Inspired by the Moon
She was twelve, and the summer holidays were only days away – no school, long days of freedom, and excitement in the air. Dad kept his promise. They’d watched the launch repeat on the news and then he woke her up in the middle of the night to sit side by side on the sofa, […]
Night Sounds
Above the garden, diamond sparkles fill the sky and the moon is a thin slice of lemon light. An owl floats, a slow ghost fading into shadows. Even the breeze is soundless. I’m beginning to feel that I’m alone on this planet, when far away an interrupted cry causes a rip in the silence – […]
Pollarded Bay
Over the years, I had grown from a tiny shrub into a tall bay tree, glossy and proud. I was home to various families of small birds, which fed on my berries, kept me company and amused me with their chattering and flittering in and out of my branches. Then came axe and saw, and […]
writing in north norfolk 