Jenny Worstall's Blog, page 5

From Slugs to Frizzy Hair: Edward Burne-Jones at Tate Britain

I knew my visit to the Burne-Jones exhibition was going to be fun when I was greeted by two giant festive slugs, complete with sparkly cables of lights, on our arrival at the Tate. It was a totally unexpected sight! Here is one of the magnificent gastropods:

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The drawings and paintings were as beautiful as ever and I wished, not for the first time, that it was still fashionable to have wild hair, hair that does its own thing, even, dare I say it, frizzy hair? These beauties hadn’t spent their time straightening their locks or taming their tresses with Frizz-Ease. They could just be themselves. Sigh.

Though for sheer volume, for really wild hair, I refer you to this picture, ‘The Bridesmaid’, by John Everett Millais:

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Or maybe this one, ‘The Lady Of Shalott’, by Holman Hunt:

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All this has reminded me of one of my stories: ‘The Woman with the Funny Hair’ from Miss Peach’s Dream.

Here it is:

What was I doing, head back, screaming at full throttle, clinging to a total stranger on the Dragon Ride at Legoland?

The day had started peacefully enough.

“Mum! Where’s my school jumper?”

“Mum! Tina’s pinched my tights again.”

“Mum! Have you ordered that stuff from the internet yet? I need it for tomorrow…”

“Jane! Where’s my tie? Keys?”

“Hang on,” I bleated. “Listen! Isn’t that the phone?”

“Hello, Jane? It’s me. Are you coming to visit today? Why not? You know they’re not looking after me properly, don’t you? I can’t think why you dumped me in this home… and ‘home’ is too good a word for it, why, the tales I could tell you about what goes on in this place, they’d make your hair curl…”

“Sorry Mum, sorry everyone,” I whimpered. “I’ll sort it, I promise. Whatever it is you all want, I’ll do it. Yes, Tina, yes, today, of course, I won’t forget.”

I had just five blissful minutes to myself once they had all left – time to slap on some anti-ageing serum. My God! I averted my eyes from the mirror quickly. When would this stuff begin to take action? And it’s costing me a small fortune, I thought guiltily. I ran my fingers through still damp hair to give a bit of root lift. Should I use that conditioning spray I had bought? Where was it anyway?

I managed to get to work looking vaguely respectable, although the house was a bomb site.

“Hi Miss!” called Darren cheerfully as I passed him in the corridor.

“Hello Darren,” I whispered. I had noticed a couple of mothers waiting for me by the coat hooks outside my classroom and so quickly pressed myself against the wall, beside a cupboard, hoping they would give up and drift out to the playground.

“She’s late again, I expect.”

“But I really need to speak to her – Jacintha wasn’t happy in class yesterday – bless her, she’s such a special child.”

“Everyone’s unique, no one’s special,” I muttered from my hiding place.

“There you are Mrs Worm,” boomed the Headmistress. “I need you to go on the trip today with Miss Kirby and Mr Grip – we need a mature member of staff present – so I’ve covered your class for the day to make you free.”

“Thank you,” I gulped, “I think.”

Once on the coach, I soon fell asleep. I was on holiday in the south of France with George Clooney, I was sailing across an azure sea, fluted champagne glass in one hand, my eyes sparkling attractively with the merest hint of intriguing laughter lines…

“Miss! Miss Worm! Me and Daisy have eaten our packed lunches and now we don’t feel so good…”

“Could you stop the coach?” I begged the driver.

“Not on the motorway, no,” he barked. “Deal with it.”

The day passed in a blur of queuing – for entry, for toilet stops, for rides and for snacks. We worked our way across the park until we arrived in front of the Dragon Roller Coaster, next to the Castle.

“No,” I said firmly to the row of imploring faces in front of me. “You’re too small to go on this. Well, some of you are, so it wouldn’t be right for anyone to go on it.”

“Not fair,” sulked Darren. “Never get to do what we want.”

“I wanna go on the Dragon Ride,” whined Daisy. “Why can’t I?”

“Not fair, not fair,” chorused the children. “Dra-gon Ride, Dra-gon Ride, not fair, not fair…”

Then suddenly, unexpectedly, something in me exploded and I turned, turned to face the children and staff.

“You don’t get to do what you want? You don’t? What about me? When does anyone even ask what I want? Maybe I want to go on the Dragon Ride. Have you ever thought of that? Maybe I will go on the Dragon Ride!”

With a hysterical cackle, I ran to the tunnel where the last passengers were getting into green plastic carriages, pushed a couple of startled people aside and leapt onto the train.

I had the time of my life, shrieking and wailing with the best of them, chugging up the narrow rail and plunging down, down to the depths, all with twenty five beady-eyed children and a couple of bemused colleagues amongst the audience. It was only when the ride stopped I realised I was attached like a barnacle to the man next to me in the carriage.

“You’ve made a bit of a show of yourself, haven’t you?” said the man’s girlfriend sitting opposite. “Put him down now. He’s spoken for.”

“Don’t know why you care,” I replied loftily. “He’s not exactly George Clooney, is he?”

With that, I jumped out of the carriage pretty smartly and fled. It was a shame I had to slink back a few minutes later to retrieve my bag.

“That’s her, the lady with the funny hair!” shouted a little girl to her mother.

“It’s rude to point – don’t they teach you manners?” I retorted, fleeing the scene for a second time.

On the way home, Miss Kirby gave me a picture from the photo booth next to the ride; it showed a red-faced woman, frizzy hair streaming in the wind and eyes mad with fear, reaching out to a man who was shrinking away in obvious terror.

“Mr Grip and I bought this for you,” she explained. “It’s already on the internet, along with a few other action shots.”

I glanced behind me and saw that every child on the coach was bent over a mobile phone.

“What made you do it?” asked Miss Kirby. “It was so out of character.”

“No idea,” I laughed, looking proudly at the picture, “but it was fantastic, fabulous fun!”

 

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Miss Peach’s Dream is available from all Amazon sites.

Rain by Barney Campbell – book review written on Remembrance Day.

I have recently finished reading this beautifully written novel by Barney Campbell. There is much technical information to absorb about the life of a young soldier on active duty in Afghanistan, but this is cleverly woven into a heartfelt story that sweeps the reader along. By turns savage and tender, this is a truly uplifting read that will live on in your mind.

Review written on 11.11.2018

My review of Lynne Shelby’s fabulous new book ‘The One That I Want’

Lynne Shelby has given us a glamorous, fun and compulsive read in her fabulous ‘The One That I Want’. I was rooting for the heroine Lucy all the way through and enjoyed every twist and turn of the plot, hoping she would be able to choose the right man.

I thoroughly recommend this fresh, sparkling book – it’s the one that you want!

‘A Day Out In London’ by Jenny Worstall #ThePeoplesFriend

My story ‘A Day Out In London’ appears today in ‘The People’s Friend’. It was inspired by the wartime experience of my grandfather as a doctor during the Birmingham air raids.

The picture below shows my grandfather (left) with his wife and father after receiving the George Medal.

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I have changed some names and details for the story and relied heavily on my imagination to fill in the blanks but the bit about my grandfather helping someone who had fainted after having the pin of his medal stuck in him by the King is true, according to a very reliable source, my mother; I owe her a great debt of gratitude for answering my endless questions about her father and about the War, furnishing me with material for this story and many others.

I am thrilled that ‘The People’s Friend’ chose this story, which is very close to my heart, for their 11th November Remembrance edition of the magazine.

Filed under: The People's Friend, Uncategorized Tagged: 1940s, A Day Out In London, Cool Courage and Resolution, family, history, short stories, The People's Friend, World War Two

Review of Silent Night (a Christmas Story Collection) by Wendy Clarke #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog

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Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

I have long been an admirer of Wendy Clarke’s short stories; she writes with great delicacy about the deep emotional truths found at the heart of seemingly everyday lives.

Christmas is a time of heightened emotion and this collection explores themes of loneliness, loss and love, all with the constant thread of the real meaning of Christmas running through.

In ‘Finding Santa’ we sympathise with a family stranded at Gatwick Airport as the festive season starts and in ‘All I Want for Christmas’ we feel for the new step-father desperately searching the shops for the elusive must-have-toy late on Christmas Eve.

The most original story of the collection in my opinion is ‘Silent Night’, but my favourite is ‘Christmas Strike’, for its humour and for the tenderness of its resolution.

So, enjoy this wonderful collection, with a mince pie and a cup of tea at your elbow!

WARNING: keep a tissue at the ready too, as Wendy Clarke really knows how to pull at the heart-strings.

 

Link to Silent Night on Amazon UK

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: #RBRT, #Rosie'sBookReviewTeam, #TuesdayBookBlog, Amazon, book review, Christmas, Feel good, humour, Jenny Worstall, new writing, quick read, short stories, story collection, The People's Friend, Wendy Clarke, women's writing

#Bookblogger bashing: in the end, you’re only hurting yourself #MondayBlogs

Greta article! Thank you Terry and Rosie.

Rosie Amber

Today I’m hosting a post written by Terry Tyler which I feel strongly about aswell.

#Bookblogger bashing: in the end, you’re only hurting yourself.

I’ve read a few posts lately about book bloggers being bullied or ‘trolled’ by writers for whom they have received bad reviews, or whose books they have rejected.  For more on this, here’s a heartrending post from The Happy Meerkat, and an associated one on Fictionophile about whether or not reviews should be objective or personal opinion, amongst other things.

Like 99% of the rest of the online writer/reader/blogger/reviewer community, I’m appalled that bloggers who give up their time to read books by total strangers, for no payment, are receiving such harassment.

I write this from the point of view of a writer, and a book reviewer.  Although my own book review blog is mostly for my own reading choices, I’m also a member of

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Gloria Crumb, the Crimplene Mum

My short story ‘Gloria Crumb, the Crimplene Mum’ is published today in ‘The People’s Friend Special’.

This is how I feel:

 

Thank you, People’s Friend, for patiently ploughing through my stories and selecting this one!

Note to writers: The People’s Friend is the most generous of magazines and so encouraging to fledgling writers. It will comment on your work and gently steer you in the right direction. Feedback from magazines is rare these days, except from The People’s Friend. They genuinely want to help you develop.

The inspiration for Gloria Crumb came many years ago from my sister. As teenagers, we shared an aversion to crimplene. We thought it was old-fashioned and used to laugh (and not always in a nice way!) at crimplene-clad characters. I filled in a coupon at the back of a magazine which promised to send you various free samples of crimplene so that you could choose the most suitable pattern to cover your sofa – but I filled it in using my sister’s name. She was naturally enough ecstatic to receive the little multi-coloured squares in the post and set about making a patchwork bag, the home for a cardboard cut out figure she named Gloria Crumm (now changed to Crumb). I came across the bag recently at the bottom of my wardrobe and decided it was time for Gloria to feature in a story.

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Hope you manage to grab a copy of ‘The People’s Friend Special’ (4.1.2017) and get acquainted with ‘Gloria Crumb, the Crimplene Mum’. You can buy The People’s Friend Special 134 from today from all good newsagents – or a digital version through The People’s Friend website. https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/category/the-magazine/

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: family, humour, quick read, short stories, Sixties, The People's Friend, women's writing

#TuesdayBookBlog ‘The Elizabeth Papers’ by Jenetta James #RBRT #BookReview

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber’s Review Team.

The Elizabeth Papers is an intriguing romantic suspense novel that flashes seamlessly between the lives of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy once they are married, and Evie and Charlie in the present day.

I was drawn to it immediately as Elizabeth Bennet is my favourite Austen heroine. I don’t think it is possible to capture completely the chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth nor Elizabeth’s brilliantly witty and teasing speech patterns unless your name is Jane Austen, but in my opinion this book stands up with the best of the sequels to Pride and Prejudice and for this reason I have given it five stars.

The attention to detail is faultless, both in the historical settings and in the present day world of art and detection, but the tale really becomes interesting when Evie and Charlie, the present day characters, make a visit to Pemberley and the two worlds collide…but no, I can’t spoil the mystery for you! I thoroughly recommend this book – but make sure you put some unbroken time aside because once you are hooked (in the very first chapter) you will have to read on and on until the mystery is solved.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Amazon, Elizabeth Bennet, family, Jane Austen, Mr Darcy, romance, suspense mystery, women's writing

Write a #BOOKREVIEW in August! A great post from Terry Tyler to encourage us all to write book reviews.

August 2016 is Write An Amazon Review Month! By @TerryTyler4 #AugustReviews

 

On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amber wrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed ~ following this up, Terry Tyler is starting this initiative along with other writer-bloggers including Rosie, Cathy from Between The Lines, Barb Taub, Shelley Wilson and Alison Williams.

 

The idea is that, from August 1st, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!).  You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time.  The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it is you get the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag on it; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway.

 

Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book.  No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used.  Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever!

 

Why should you write a review?

They help book buyers make decisions.  Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use?  Book reviews are no different.

If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand.

The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly).  If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen.

It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes!

 

Off we go, then!  A few more pointers:

If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above.

A review can be as short as one word.  The shortest one I have is just two[image error]

You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like.

No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post.

Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review?  If so, tweet the link to it with the hashtag #AugustReviews ~ and thank you!  I will do one blog post a week featuring these links: The #AugustReviews Hall of Fame (thank you, Barb!).

 

 

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Amazon, Amazon Loves Authors

#TuesdayBookBlog ‘What Tim Knows’ by Wendy Janes #RBRT #BookReview

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber’s Review Team.

This wonderful collection of short stories takes six characters from Wendy Janes’ novel ‘What Jennifer Knows’ and gives each of them a canvas to themselves. The stories link back cleverly to the novel and give further insights into the characters’ lives and behaviour. Jennifer, the heroine of ‘What Jennifer Knows’, appears in every story at different points in her life. Even though the stories are entwined with the novel, they can be read as a standalone volume with great enjoyment too.

The fifth story, ‘The Perfect Family’, explores the shifting loyalties and cruelties of childhood friendship and how a child’s perception of her parents can change in a crisis.

The emotional gem, for me, is ‘What Tim Knows’. Wendy Janes has a real understanding of what it feels like for a child to be different and how this affects the behaviour and feelings of others too. The closing scene between Tim and his mother Blythe is truly heart-wrenching.

I have no hesitation in recommending this fantastic collection and hope it will send new readers in search of the novel it is so much part of.

Link to ‘What Tim Knows’ on Amazon UK

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Amazon, coffee read, family, new writing, quick read, short stories, women's writing