’Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,
All soft and still and fair
As the actor Robin Williams once said (in the character of Adrian Cronauer) – ‘It’s hot, damn hot, real hot!’. The electric fans, sat patiently on the bench for most of the year, now with tracksuits off and working their wizardry, back and forth pushing the air around and attempting to turn it into a less warm version, bottles of cold water in the fridge, offering relief to both forehead and throat, patches of darkened shade transformed into magnets. In the shop the music is always set to cool, the beats per minute calibrated for browsing, and on days like this the pace may be down a notch or two on the dial.
Two articles leapt out of the morning’s papers – the first about getting kids out into the great outdoors (suncream and hats a must) for a bit of screen-free time. The article mentions author and psychologist Jonathan Haidt and his excellent book ‘The Anxious Generation’, in which the great outdoors, and in particular summer camps, are suggested as being the best detox from smart phones and social media. School and Scout camps in the summers of our childhood just seemed like the most natural places to be, they made the prospect of the summer holidays exciting – being with your mates, having a laugh – more social, less media.
The second was from one of our visiting authors for Coles Book Club – Patrick Grant explaining with his trademark tigerish enthusiasm the joy of the village show, the coming together of a community for the highly competitive function of ‘Onion Showing’. Slowing down a little and taking the foot off the pedal need not neuter the competitive spirit – the large onion category beckons, all that’s needed are seeds from Robinson’s of Forton, sprinkled with a little patience, and perhaps a chair (and a gardening book!) in the shade.
‘Moonlight, Summer Moonlight’ by Emily Jane Brontë
’Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,
All soft and still and fair;
The solemn hour of midnight
Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,
But most where trees are sending
Their breezy boughs on high,
Or stooping low are lending
A shelter from the sky.
And there in those wild bowers
A lovely form is laid;
Green grass and dew-steeped flowers
Wave gently round her head.
The Queen of Fives, an infamous Victorian hustler, has five days to win one of the most anticipated matches with one of the most eligible Dukes in England and (hopefully) disappear with his family riches…but can she pull it off? Or has she finally met her match. Alex Hay’s Queen of Fives is out in paperback, and it’s one of the most exciting historical thrillers of the year.
In non-fiction, some of the US’s best reporters have come together to report on the tumultuous year of 2024. Dawsey, Pager and Arnsdorf take us on a tour of last year, with a never before read interview with Trump, as well as behind-the-scenes access to Harris’, Trump’s and Biden’s teams’ personal accounts. Gripping, revelatory, and deeply reported, 2024 is the shocking inside story of the election that tested American democracy.
And for younger children I can recommend nothing other than the gruesome Medicine by Briony Hudson and Nick Taylor. This has all the squeamish and shocking facts about what we used to do to fix our ailments. Not for the faint-hearted!
As always, if there’s anything you need, just pop by or reply to this email!
From Amber
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