Pauline gives us another fantastic snapshot of what we’ve been reading and chatting about at Story Cafe…
Work in Progress – Dr Donna Moore
We were pleased to hear, when Wendy introduced Donna, that the three novellas she had read from at a previous event were to be published next year as The Unpicking by Fly on the Wall Press. The novellas were part of Donna’s PhD and told the story of the difficult lives of three women in Victorian and early 20th century Glasgow.
Today Donna read the start of the two novels she is working on at present, Mrs Clean and Knit One, Purl One. In Mrs Clean, abandoned, in-shock Elizabeth meets disillusioned contract killer, Emerson through a mix up at the dry cleaners. The encounter features a bottle of sherry and a gun! In the discussion which followed we were eager to know how their collaboration would develop but Donna said this was very much a work in progress. She likes to write herself into a corner and then work out how to get out of it.
Knit One, Purl One which started life as a screenplay, centres around a block of retirement apartments, and features a cast of hilarious residents who take on the local ‘big man’. We especially loved Donna’s style and the humour in her writing, with Scottish writer Christopher Brookmyre and South Korean writer Gu Byeong-mo cited as exemplars. Donna was asked about her writing practice and she explained she was not someone who set herself a daily target of words and sometimes went for days without writing anything.
At the end of the session there was very warm applause for this talented writer.
You can borrow some of Donna’s previous novels from the Library – Old Dogs and Go to Helena Handbasket.
Wintering by Katherine May
Katherine May is a novelist and creative writing tutor and Wendy explained that this memoir was written following personal and family health problems and was both healing and cathartic for the author. Wendy read from a section called “Snow” and in the break that followed we shared our experiences of snow, from childhood memories to incredible wildlife encounters! Wendy then read “Cold Water” followed by another break for tea and chat.
In the final section I read “Song” where Katherine writes of human interaction with robins, the one bird that truly sings in the winter. The easily recognisable robin is territorial, curious and seems to interact with us, cocking his head to one side as he investigates what we are doing. Finally I read a poem, Aurora Borealis by Nellie Seelye Evans before we emerged into a sunny but cold and crisp winter afternoon.
Wintering is available to borrow from the library.
Our next Story Cafe will be Thursday 26th January where we will be reading from The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, which is set in Cyprus and London. One of the main characters is a fig tree! Intrigued? Well, book your ticket and join us as we share a memorable novel with you in our first get-together of 2023.
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