Monthly Archives: February 2022

Arts, Books

Book Club: Open Water

SYNOPSIS: INSIGHT

AT a birthday party in the basement of a south London pub, a young man meets a young woman. “You’re both artists,” says a mutual friend. “She’s a very talented dancer …he’s a photographer.” The man is there to take pictures.

When his work is complete, he looks around for her and soon realises she’s gone; however, he knows they will meet again.

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Costa Prize-winning debut novel charts the turbulent course of a love affair between two complicated and creative individuals.

“You joked as a photographer that you spent time chasing light,” the unnamed narrator reflects, “but you should’ve also said you bent darkness as well.”

The author brings a fierce emotional intensity to his elegant love story. It unfolds amid a richly detailed depiction of the light and darkness of living and loving in London.

– Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson is published by Viking, 160pp

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Arts, Culture

Things will be better

EXPECTANCY

IT might not feel like spring has sprung yet, but earlier this week, in Celtic traditions, was Imbolc, the beginning of spring.

It’s a time of confident expectancy, a time when things are in bud and will surely flower. There’s a feeling of having survived the worst of winter and anything from here on in must surely be better.

With weather patterns the way they are these days, that might not always be the case. Perhaps the seasons were more firmly fixed in their routine back when the tradition began.

Of course, apart from the occasional storm, things do as a whole start to get better. From this week on, we move further away from the winter solstice and ever closer to the spring equinox.

So hold fast! Things will be better!

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