Birdsong lightens the early-morning mood here at the top of one of Edinburgh’s seven hills; we’re close enough to open fields and woodland to hear chirruping singing out ages before any of us are even close to waking up and getting out of bed. I might as well confess I only know about the birdsong … More Inside the mystery of ‘civil’ twilights
Bowling down an unusually quiet Ladbroke Grove early one pale-grey morning more than twenty years ago, it was obvious the Notting Hill carnival, which has its heartland along that stretch of road, was over for another year, barring pieces of forlorn streamers left in gutters. The calm of the place didn’t bother me; I was … More Lost and Found
A church called The Good Shepherd has found harbour on top of a small hill on the edges of the city of Edinburgh, and from here it offers refuge to others in its turn, supporting all who are lost, despairing or lonely. It helps that the church projects more than a hint of upturned ark, … More Seeking Shelter from the Storm
On a road somewhere outside Perth in 1977, twelve years old. We are sitting in the car heading home for Edinburgh, not far from Uncle Paul and Auntie Mary’s house in Perthshire, where we earlier had lunch. We left only ten minutes ago, in our ageing Toyota Prius, but, already, currents of anger run through … More A piece of fiction I’m writing.
When my younger daughter was three months old, I woke up one morning to notice my sight in my right eye had become blurry. If I shut my left eye and relied on the right one, I couldn’t see where the curtains began or ended, couldn’t tell what that fuzzy white thing on the mantelpiece … More The body doesn’t lie
Summer 2015, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh “No, it’s not cancer.” My body begins to relax at the young and energetic doctor’s words. Not cancer. The sight loss, paralysis, memory gaps . . . It’s not what I most feared. My husband is sitting next to me in another grotty plastic visitors’ chair. He shoots me … More Learning I’ve got MS
Half a dozen astronauts circle the planet earth from outer space in this odd, rhapsodic novel about a gravity-free voyage in which the travellers see everything – food, water, cutlery, sleep, sex, toilet arrangements, themselves – from a different angle. In many ways, it’s a story about our planet as seen by outsiders. And, also, … More Orbital – Samantha Harvey
The Only Story, Julian Barnes, Vintage It’s the sixties and Paul is back home in Surrey on holiday from university when he meets and starts sleeping with the much older Susan, whose mastery of the tennis court attracts him almost as much as her wit and lithe figure clad in whites. Ironic, damaged and knowing, … More Telling everyone’s story
One of the worst things about long-term illness can be feeling you’re on your own, despite all attempts by well-meaning friends and family to persuade you otherwise. Hilary Mantel understands the isolation only too well, as she shows in Giving up the Ghost. Bodily failure Zoom and social media are, of course, helping; they connect … More Giving up the Ghost
Helen Fowler Writer 