Book Review: A Certain Kind of Freedom compiled and edited by Beryl Belsky
A review by Lenora
Beryl Belsky is an academic editor and writer who runs The Writer’s Drawer website. The Writer’s Drawer aims to promote writers from all backgrounds, abilities and cultures. Beryl Belsky is also taking part in the year-long Indie and Proud campaign.
A Certain Kind of Freedom, Stories and Poems from The Writer’s Drawer compiled and edited by Beryl Belsky
This compact collection brings together 30 or so new writers of all ages and abilities from all over the world. The book is divided into short fiction, essays and poetry, and the common link is the writer’s drawer website rather than subject matter. Belsky’s stated aim is to present not only stories of literary merit, but also those that provide cultural insight into the writer’s own countries.
I was lucky enough to be given a paperback copy of this collection to review. Initially I dipped into it, beginning with a few of the poems. I was immediately impressed by the poetry of Jane Tarlo, ‘Debris’ and ‘It’ were both haunting and perceptive poems that stayed with me long after I had read them.
From there I began at the beginning and found it very hard to put the book down. Almost all of the stories, essays and poems are of a high standard, clearly some stood out more than others. The title story ‘A Certain Kind of Freedom’ by Susan Rodgers was a stand out piece of writing. A young couple embark on a kayaking trip on a beautiful, and yet cursed, coastline. The landscape perhaps reflecting Kate and Ryan’s passionate but ultimately doomed relationship, while an impending sense of tragedy quickly unfolds.
‘The Villager Who Dared the Spirits’ by D. Othniel Forte, the tale of a lazy and foolish villager who mocked the woodland spirits and paid the price for his pride was told in a charming folk-lore style. While the ‘Cry of the Fish Eagle’ by Leandre Grobler presented the tragic clash between ancient indigenous/aboriginal culture and modern ‘civilization’ when the last remaining Khoisan couple find refuge in an Eden-like valley only to be pursued by well-meaning but misguided academics. Perhaps the bigger lesson in this story is that modern ‘civilized’ society cannot be forgiven for its disregard of more ancient ways of life. Of the other stories, I enjoyed the Noire-ish and conspiracy theorist tale ‘Nuked’ by Robert Walton and the time travel fantasy ‘Immortal Beloved’ by Tyger Schonholzer.
In the essays section, I loved ‘All the Cats in the World’ by Mina Sephri, writing of her and her family’s love of cats set against the backdrop of revolutionary Iran. There is a bittersweet poignancy in the final message of this story. Aside from some very poignant and touching writing the collection also contains some very pithy personal essays – I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with Vincent Quek in his essay ‘Punctuality is the Politeness of Kings’. My other favourite in this section was ‘The Smoke Bird’ by Bryan Clark, a beautiful story about an aboriginal mystic and how the dead can still watch over the living.
All in all, barring a couple of pieces that jarred with the overall quality of this collection, Beryl Belsky has selected an engaging and at times highly moving collection of writing. Credit must be given to her undoubted skills as an editor, despite the challenges of editing works from writers of all nationalities and who may not have English as a first language, Belsky’s collection is extremely polished and eminently readable. I would recommend this book both as a cover to cover read, and for dipping into. I certainly won’t be giving Ingrid my copy back (sorry Ingrid) as I will definitely be re-reading many of these works. Beryl Belsky has expressed the hope that this will be the first in a collection of books based on works from The Writer’s Drawer and I certainly hope she achieves this aim.
A Certain Kind of Freedom compiled and edited by Beryl Belsky is available on Amazon:
