One of the great pleasures of travel can be the coming home – particularly when home is such a green and pleasant land.
Last week’s poem by Laurie Lee was perfect for the moment – the joy of a new Spring about to unfurl. And as oft the case with the rabbit hole of poetry, and a prompt from a good friend, here’s some more Laurie Lee. In a previous life before bookselling, my travels took me far and wide and with that grew an increasing appreciation for where my anchor lay. This work from Lee reflects and celebrates that one of the great pleasures of travel can be the coming home – particularly when home is such a green and pleasant land.
Home From Abroad by Laurie Lee
Far-fetched with tales of other worlds and ways,
My skin well-oiled with wines of the Levant,
I set my face into a filial smile
To greet the pale, domestic kiss of Kent.
But shall I never learn? That gawky girl,
Recalled so primly in my foreign thoughts,
Becomes again the green-haired queen of love
Whose wanton form dilates as it delights.
Her rolling tidal landscape floods the eye
And drowns Chianti in a dusky stream;
he flower-flecked grasses swim with simple horses,
The hedges choke with roses fat as cream.
So do I breathe the hayblown airs of home,
And watch the sea-green elms drip birds and shadows,
And as the twilight nets the plunging sun
My heart’s keel slides to rest among the meadows.
This week’s fiction pick of the week is an immersive historical crime called The Murder of Mr Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan. This Sherlock-esque mystery, set in early 20th Century London, features martial arts, fiendish puzzles and a powerhouse crime-solving duo. Our non-fiction pick of the week is Tamsin Mather’s fantastic Adventures in Volcanoland. This will tell you everything you need to know about volcanic eruptions, formations, and how they have shaped the human race throughout time, whilst still being accessible and enthralling.
In fiction, we’re showcasing a host of fantastic new prose: Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moira Fowley is a collection of short stories featuring macabre and sinister stories about queer female bodies at the end of the world; The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey is the story of Tama the magpie, observing the atrocity of of human civilisation through her innocent bird eyes; Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang is a crazy science-fiction set in 2080s Beijing which jumps around in space and time; whilst the fantasy Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrews centres around a shocking discovery our protagonist makes when she’s wandering around the new house she’s inherited.
In non-fiction, hopefully The Observant Walker by John Wright will tempt you – as winter washes away and we welcome in the spring, this book guides you towards all the wonderful things to look out for on a walk. In Ruby Wax’s I’m Not as Well as I Thought she talks us through her admission to a psychiatric institution in 2022 in a lighthearted fashion, so that we can all reach inner peace and equanimity. Writing on the Wall by Madeleine Pelling tells us all about the daring, funny and fascinating graffitti left behind in 18th Century Britain. And The Carnation Revolution by Alex Fernandes talks us through April 1974, when Portugal’s dictatorship fell.
New for children, Molly, Olive and Dexter by Catherine Rayner is a new series for toddlers about three best friends who take their game of hide and seek very seriously! And Blossom Origami by Clover Robin is great for ages 7+, with step by step instructions and pull-out sheets of patterned paper, this will keep young ones occupied for hours.
As always, if there’s something you need help with, or a book you need ordering, please call or email us!
From Amber
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