Menna Van Praag's Blog, page 13
December 2, 2014
December 1, 2014
The Dress Shop of Dreams Advent Calendar!
Announcing: The Dress Shop of Dreams Advent Calendar! Every day of Dec I’m posting a quote from the book, ’till it comes out Dec 30th Today: All Saint’s Passage, Cambridge, where the magic takes place!
Flowers sprinkled with fairy dust…
At Liberty’s of London…
November 30, 2014
The Christmas tree is up!
I’m feeling very excited 
November 23, 2014
The BEST Afternoon Tea Ever!!
The BEST Afternoon Tea I’ve ever eaten!! @ The Aldwych Hotel, London.
October 31, 2014
Happy Halloween!
Here’s a little Halloween story I was invited to write. Only one page long. Along with illustrations by the divinely talented Alice Jago…
A Cambridge Cemetery
The ghost enjoyed scaring people: mourners, the newly bereaved. Fear was the only emotion he could feel anymore. The shiver of it rippled the air right through him and, for the briefest moment, he experienced an echo of how it had felt to be alive. The echo was almost silent; he had to strain to hear it. It was the flicker of a fire long since burnt out, the memory of a sunset at midnight. And yet, it was all the ghost had.
One evening, one Halloween night, a hundred and seventeen years since he’d died, the ghost was being blown through swirls of autumn leaves, when he saw a girl sitting cross-legged at a graveside. It had been a few weeks since anyone had visited the little graveyard – the vicar was the only one who frequented the church with any regularity anymore – and the ghost was beginning to drift away at the edges, to forget that he had ever once been alive.
He waited until the wind settled, until the air was perfectly still. Then he swept up to her, sliding headfirst through her heart – the way he’d perfected to provoke the biggest fright. But she didn’t scream. And he felt no shiver. Frustrated, the ghost gathered himself and swept through her again. But, again, the girl’s face was calm and the ghost felt not a flicker of fear.
“You’re so full of sorrow,” she said.
And, for the first time, in life or death, the ghost felt the sensation of a smile tug through him. For the first time, in life or death, he had been seen.
“Most people are scared of sorrow,” she said. “They don’t understand – if you run from something it will run after you.”
Her words slid through his suddenly solid heart. And, just before he vanished, she could see his face: sorrow swept away by relief, his eyes glassy with gratitude.
The wind whipped up again and, with it, a shroud of tranquil peace – not felt in the little graveyard in one hundred and seventeen years – billowed up then settled over the gravestones, the leaves, the grass. It floated down into the girl’s lap. She felt it between her fingers and smiled.
October 21, 2014
I had an “American Beauty” moment today, cycling through ...
I had an “American Beauty” moment today, cycling through a windy Cambridge. I always feel that way when I see a floating plastic bag – anyone else? 
October 17, 2014
Happy Chocolate Week! Today’s celebrations combined two o...
Happy Chocolate Week! Today’s celebrations combined two of my favourite passions: chocolate & books, when I found this delight!
October 15, 2014
Midnight pasta – yum!!
Midnight pasta – yum!!
