By Any Other Name

I am pleased to say that By Any Other Name - a mystery novel - is now available on Kindle, and in paperback. At only $4 or £2.50 for the Kindle version, and £7.27 in paperback, I believe it is well worth the price. Those who have read the draft versions have assured me that they could not put the book down as they were so eager to discover what happened next...

Thérèse of Lisieux

St Therese of Lisieux intrigues me. I read her autobiography several times in my youth and, whereas others found it inspiring, it seemed cloying to the point of nausea to me and she was not a saint I would have chosen to imitate (although her 'little way' was very appealing). 

Nonetheless, there is something about this saint which still has enormous meaning for me (although I am no longer a Catholic) and it doesn’t surprise me that she was a major influence in the lives of such diverse people as Vita Sackville-West (who wrote a book about her) and Edith Piaf – both of whose lives were very far removed from that of a ‘little’ nun in an enclosed convent!! According to Wikipedia:   

"Shortly after her birth Edith developed a cataract. She was blind for almost three years. Her grandmother, Louise, took her to Lisieux. She saw. It was a real miracle for Edith. She always believed this. Since that time she had a real devotion to St Thérèse of the Child Jesus...she always had a small picture of the saint on her bedside table."

Many years ago, I spent the summers working in Lourdes. The first time I went to work there, I was just eighteen and had not been abroad alone before. Being the only English person in the place where I was working, I initially felt extremely lonely and wondered how I would get through another 2 1/2 months of it. I wandered, almost by chance, into the underground basilica where there is a small chapel dedicated to Therese and I sat there for a few minutes, just looking at her picture and thinking how lonely I was. Five minutes later, as I left the basilica, a group of Italian people from the place I was working happened to be passing and they asked me to go with them for a walk. All the way there they spoke in English (simply because I was English and didn’t speak Italian – how delightful the Italian people are!!) and laughed and laughed about all kinds of things and within 10 minutes I could not imagine how I could have felt at all lonely. From then on, I absolutely loved every moment that I worked there – it was one of the happiest times of my life and I often think back to it, and how truly miraculously my whole attitude changed after just 5 minutes or so in Therese’s 'company.'

I firmly believe that there are many ‘non-physical’ beings – angels, saints or simply ‘friends in high places’ – who are ever ready to help anyone in any circumstance and one’s religion, beliefs, spirituality etc. etc. (or lack thereof) and way of life are totally irrelevant to them. I think it is only humans who judge by such outwards trappings.

Fascinating, too, is the way in which Therese's autobiography became an almost overnight bestseller - one of the least likely books to do so, one would have thought. I have to say that as someone who received countless rejections from publishers before my books suddenly started to sell well, that, too, always fascinated me and I have no doubt that these 'friends in high places' help facilitate it for me!

Here is a little tribute to the saint for which I wrote the words, and Tony Croft wrote the music. The song was performed by a local primary school, dedicated to St Therese.  I hope you like it...

"The Mind-Made Prison"

Some months ago, someone recommended a book to me – Mateo Tabatabai’s ‘The Mind-Made Prison’. Having read numerous books about spirituality, self-improvement etc. etc., including the wonderful Science of Mind and the works of Joseph Murphy and Florence Scovel-Shinn, alongside the countless spirituality books I read before and after studying Divinity, I was not really expecting to find anything very new. The book, however, took me by surprise with its very practical ideas and exercises, alongside the obvious wisdom and originality of the author and it is a book to which I will return often and highly recommend to anyone with any interest whatsoever in understanding how we function and our self-imposed limitations, or anyone who enjoys contemplating new ideas or wishes to take practical steps to improve his/her life and the lives of those around us.

I was delighted, therefore, when Mateo agreed to talk about his book, his work and his ideas in the following interview:

 

Prince Albert's Sense of Humour

It is a great pity and a travesty of the truth that Prince Albert has come down through history as a rather dour person when, in his lifetime, he was known for his great sense of humour. 

In his youth, he was particularly fond of practical jokes, and as I am currently in the process of creating a book about him and Queen Victoria as parents, I have come across numerous accounts of his pranks and escapades. One which particularly amuses me concerns a time when he was travelling with his cousin and friend, Arthur Mendsdorf, and, as their carriage approached a post house where they were to change horses, quite a crowd gathered, eager to observe the illustrious occupants. Prince Albert instantly dived to the floor and, urging his cousin  to do the same, had his favourite greyhound, Eos,put her head out of the window to the bemusement of the crowd!

Well, I think that such a beautiful creature deserved the applause and her moment of glory! 

"By Any Other Name"

Coming soon - my new novel By Any Other Name was inspired by a brief time I spent working in an old Victorian psychiatric hospital (now no longer in existence). At the time I worked there, it was a bright, cheery place but there were certain parts of it which gave me a feeling of being absolutely drained of energy and utterly depressed.

I arrived there in summertime and the weather was beautiful but as soon as I entered one particular part of the building, it was as though a century of unhappiness had left so strong an impression on the fabric of the building that the negative energy was almost overwhelming.

My new novel does not centre around this aspect - it is a mystery (unlike any of my other books) set in the late 1980s, wherein a young artist returns to her native town to uncover the truth about her mother who was rumoured to have committed suicide. As the story progresses, Maria (the artist) finds herself drawn into a web of hypocrisy and deception, while dealing with her own emotions and her lifelong attraction to a man she believes she hates...

I was equally inspired to write this story during a visit to Paris when, on entering a room in the Louvre, I was awe-struck by the size and beauty of a painting - La Jeune Martyre by Delaroche...

The book will be available very soon:

Beethoven's Minuet in G performed by Cadenza

This is very enjoyable - "A unique interpretation of Beethoven's Minuet in G for accordion and melodeon, played by Cadenza." Even though it is a German piece performed by English musicians, the accordion/melodeon sound always evokes thoughts of France...

Prince Albert's Letter to Queen Victoria

The beautiful letter from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, which is to go on display at Windsor Castle, surely contradicts all the nonsense written about the Prince being forced into the marriage, and the idea that he was simply some kind of control-freak who wanted to rule everything! So much is written about Queen Victoria’s adoration of her husband, yet so little is mentioned of his feelings for her, and this letter demonstrates that their love was mutual and passionate. Far from being the dull prude of popular imagination, it demonstrates, too, that Prince Albert was a passionate man whose fidelity to his wife sprang not only from his high moral values but also from his genuine love for the Queen.

 

At last, an article which nears the truth about the Queen and Prince: Prince Albert's Letter

 

So different from the balderdash proliferated in such sweeping and unjust articles as this:  Complete and utter judgemental balderdash!!