A GIRL IS A SHAPESHIFTER is Higgins’ debut poetry collection - pieced together alone and across six months, it follows the voice of a young woman intent on loving herself fiercely and making a mark on the ever-widening world around her. From the opening poem, ‘nice to meet you’, I was in love with Higgins’ … Continue reading Review of A Girl is a Shapeshifter, Jasmine S. Higgins
There are snowdrops in the sky, drooping their tiny heads in the dark. Some call them stars but to me they are flowers; snowdrops blooming in winter, light blossoming even in death. Poem: © Kristiana Reed 2019 Between the Trees UK Between the Trees US Signed copies on Etsy Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Bray’s debut novel A Song for Issy Bradley is a beautifully written tale about how a Mormon family chooses to grieve and move on from a tremendous loss. Throughout, Bray weaves stunning images which capture how differently a mother mourns to her seven year old son, or her deeply religious husband. The story is also … Continue reading Review of A Song for Issy Bradley, Carys Bray
i spread out all of my puzzle pieces turn them all picture side up and give each of them names: love.hope.want.grief.fear.luck before i cut off all of their edges shapely and jagged and place them on top of one another because i know i’ll never get them to fit to coexist in peace … Continue reading Picture side up
The President’s Gardens is a heartbreaking tragedy which spans generations, following the lives of Abdullah, Ibrahim and Tariq in a small village in Iraq. The cyclical narrative unravels a story of loss, love and brutality, within which three men suffer greatly as well as their families. Before reading, Iraq was a country I knew very … Continue reading Review of The President’s Gardens, Muhsin Al-Ramli
I must remind myself this is still the beginning - I am not so old that these days I am living have become the staple of years to come - I am still young and this is still the beginning so I’ll stick out my tongue to taste the frost and sit and stare into … Continue reading The taste of fire and frost
In my dreams I wake up early enough to watch the morning stars fade into blue. I wear lipstick and it never gets on my teeth. And in the distance chimney smoke whistles silently upwards before disappearing so as not to hurt Mother Nature nestled in her weary, aching bones. In my dreams, things are … Continue reading Morning stars
Originally published on Reedsy Discovery. Sassafras by Trish Heald is a stunning debut. I laughed and cried as Heald expertly told a story about healing and family (whether tied by blood or friendship). When Champ’s wife, Pat, dies, both he and his family lose their peacekeeper and grief, as it so often does, slips its fingers … Continue reading Review of Sassafras, Trish Heald
I count them on my fingertips: branches without berries, leaves or acorns, without warmth, horribly exposed skeleton bones poking upwards of the horizon like hands attached to choral lamentations reaching up from the underworld seeking a love they lost days, months or years ago. Poem: © Kristiana Reed 2019 Between the Trees UK Between the … Continue reading Without berries
Last year began as the previous one ended - quite literally and in the sense I still had vast mountain ranges to climb. It’s a metaphor we use constantly but I couldn’t think of anything more apt; anything more deceptive than a mountain peak disappearing into the clouds. A few months into the year, I … Continue reading Age 25
