Another little jaunt today as I round off my short stay in the Dales. Today we took tea not in the grand halls of empire, nor beneath the cloisters of cloaked abbots, but in the altogether finer establishment of the Langcliffe Village Hall, where the china clinks not in diplomatic negotiation but in defence of … Continue reading Langcliffe: A Quiet Benediction in Stone and Fur
Tag: books
Valmouth: Where Decorum Goes to Die (with a Wink and a Fan)
There are books that whisper. Books that purr. And then there’s Valmouth - a novella that arrives on the literary stage dressed in ostrich feathers and screaming “darling” before it’s even found its seat. If novels were guests at a country house, Valmouth would be the one caught kissing the butler, flirting with the vicar, … Continue reading Valmouth: Where Decorum Goes to Die (with a Wink and a Fan)
Bread Upon the Waters
Ecclesiastes 11:1, the art of giving, and the peculiar futility of being alive “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” — Ecclesiastes 11:1 There’s something heartbreakingly hopeful about that line, isn’t there? Something that makes you want to nod sagely, as if you understand it, even though - … Continue reading Bread Upon the Waters
The Phantom in the Linen: On the Ubiquity of White Ladies, Grey Ladies, and Other Draped Nonsense
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in Blanchland, Northumberland - a village so theatrically atmospheric it looks like it was designed by a heritage-obsessed monk with a fondness for mist. I was holed up in The Lord Crewe Arms, one of the North’s most famously haunted pubs - though frankly, the prices gave me … Continue reading The Phantom in the Linen: On the Ubiquity of White Ladies, Grey Ladies, and Other Draped Nonsense
Fingersmith: A Tale of Pickpockets, Pornographers, and Plot Twists So Sharp You’ll Need Stitches
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”— Jeremiah 17:9 First of all... On the Reluctance to Read the Modern …or, Why I Approach Contemporary Novels Like They Might Bite Me There’s a particular stiffness in my posture whenever someone recommends a “brilliant new novel.” A twitch behind the eyes. … Continue reading Fingersmith: A Tale of Pickpockets, Pornographers, and Plot Twists So Sharp You’ll Need Stitches
Wording 