The concussive shock of the first shell hitting the church was the only one Bright actually felt. After that came the now-familiar feeling of capsized calm in which the world seemed viewed from beneath a great depth of water. It was as if all sound and feeling were gone suddenly, and, within that watery silence, death was not something hurtled from above but more like a meadow of wildflowers that blossomed from the ground in radii of plaster, mud, and dust, swallowing buildings and bodies, chewing them in the air a while and then spitting them back out upon the trammeled ground like the ends of gnawed bones. When the…

First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later. The robbery is the more important part, since it served to set my and my sister’s lives on the courses they eventually followed. Nothing would make complete sense without that being told first. Our parents were the least likely two people in the world to rob a bank. They weren’t strange people, not obviously criminals. No one would’ve though they were destined to end up the way they did. They were just regular – although, of course, that kind of thinking became null and void the moment they did rob a bank. Richard Ford…

“I mean I can’t cook.” “You can’t cook…why, good Lord, Sally Jay, I thought every girl knew how to cook.” He looked at me, his little Floradora Girl, and gave me a wry sort of some-women-are-made-for-only-one-thing smile. Then he shook his head hopelessly. “Marion de Wald cooks,” he said grimly. “She does all the cooking and looks after two kids as well.” I tried to remember one minute that whole week end when Marion and I weren’t either feeding people, or cleaning up from doing it, or preparing to do it again. And presumably she never stopped doing it. But I couldn’t quite see why just because she did, I…

Almost 2 years ago, Ted got a Nook for his birthday. He’s an early adopter, and is always looking out for the next new thing. So he wanted to try it, and it has suited him very well. He can load books, magazines, and newspapers to his Nook, and bring them all to work with him to read on his lunch hour, with no real effort. Me? I’m a slow adopter. I resist change. I didn’t want an ipod, because my walkman was fine, thank you very much. I didn’t want a blog, what’s the point? I didn’t want Facebook, how stupid can you be? On all of these things,…

Laurie Garvey hadn’t been raised to believe in the Rapture. She hadn’t been raised to believe in much of anything, except the foolishness of belief itself. We’re agnostics

I’ve seen the previews for the film adaptation of War Horse, and mostly I wasn’t that excited.  I love horses, but I’m not always sure I want to see a horse movie.  I read an article in the local paper that pretty much changed my mind by saying that it was a ‘film to watch out for’. Oh, who am I kidding.  I’ll see it. When I read it was based on a well loved children’s book, I decided that if I were going to see the film, perhaps I might want to read the book first.  Luckily, my local library has it, and there was no waiting list. The…

The image of Michela playing with a twig and breaking up her own reflection in the water before sliding into it like a sack of potatoes ran through his head like an electric shock. Exhausted, he sat down a couple of feet from the river’s edge. He turned around to look behind him and saw the darkness that would last for many hours to come. He stared at the gleaming black surface of the river. Again he tried to remember its name, but couldn’t. He plunged his hands into the cold earth. On the bank the dampness made it softer. He found a broken bottle, a sharp reminder of some…

Cornwall, 1900 – Eliza has been living in abject poverty, hidden in the attic with her brother.  Her brother makes money cleaning chimneys.  Eliza cleans and launders clothing that Mrs. Swindell brings in, for money.  Mrs. Swindell strains the broth that they eat before feeding them.  No reason to waste meat on children such as them.  Their mother recently died, but before she did, she warned Eliza and Sammy to always be careful, always watch out for the bad man, the bad man who is searching for them. London, 1913 – A 4 or 5 year old girl hides in the dark, just as she has been told.  She’s waiting…

At twenty-three, Dexter Mayhew’s vision of his future was no clearer than Emma Morley’s. He hoped to be successful, to make his parents proud and to sleep with more than one woman at the same time, but how to make these all compatible? He wanted to feature in magazine articles, and hoped one day for a retrospective of his work, without having any clear notion of what that work might be. He wanted to live life to the extreme, but without any mess or complications. He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random, it would be a cool photograph. Things should…