The wind remembers what the Church forgot. Two for the price of one. Today I managed 2.5k words of my book; today’s project was a sombre one so it’s fitting that I pull out these two old essays and share them with you here. I came upon her grave quite by accident, though I suspect … Continue reading The Girl at the Crossroads: The Legend of Kitty Jay
Tag: suffering
Between Hell and Reason
Sometimes the world goes so mad that only a sane man looks insane. Albert Camus was one of those men. While Europe tore itself to pieces, he stood, cigarette in hand, between hell and reason — and, miraculously, refused to join either. When I first read his wartime essays, I could almost smell the ink … Continue reading Between Hell and Reason
Ashes of Defiance: Anne Askew and the Fire at Smithfield
“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.” — Song of Solomon 8:7 History is littered with martyrs, but some rise from the ashes not as mournful relics, but as burning questions. Anne Askew — born in 1521 in Lincolnshire, unwilling wife, unyielding believer, and finally unwilling guest at Smithfield’s stake — … Continue reading Ashes of Defiance: Anne Askew and the Fire at Smithfield
The Devils of Loudun: Possession in the Age of Reasonable Madness
There are two kinds of devilry in this world: the kind that froths and foams in the convent, and the kind that wears a signet ring and drafts policy. Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun is about both — a tale where hysteria kneels before power and calls it holy. I’ve long thought that if Lucifer … Continue reading The Devils of Loudun: Possession in the Age of Reasonable Madness
The Slag Heap of Forgetfulness
In memory of the children of Aberfan, 21st October 1966 Before the Bell Rang There are mornings that never end, only echo. Aberfan was one of them. The rain had fallen through the night — the kind of Welsh rain that softens the hills but sharpens the nerves. By half past nine, the children of … Continue reading The Slag Heap of Forgetfulness
Wording 