One of my many interests is visiting stately homes and historic residences. There’s a few of them in London, but the remarkably grand ones are outside the capital, far from any form of public transport. Palatial houses come with extensive grounds and beautiful gardens after all.
My husband and I keep a list of houses we want to visit but we’ve never come across Cliveden House. It is jointly owned and looked after by the National Trust and Iconic Luxury Hotels. The former handles the gardens and the grounds while the latter manages the house as a luxury hotel.
Imagine my delight when I was asked to look around the place in anticipation of the Cliveden Literary Festival!
Mirror Shoulder Signal was written by Danish author Dorthe Nors and translated to English by Misha Hoesktra for Pushkin Press. It was shortlisted for the 2017 ManBooker International Prize.
It tells the story of Sonja, a forty-year-old woman living in Copenhagen, who is single and lives away from her family. Sonja was born in the rural area of Jutland and fled to the capital in an attempt to make something of herself; to be something else other than the typical narrative of girls who were born and grown up in the area and has never left its confines.
I finished the book in two to three days. Granted, I had an off day from work where I did nothing else but read, but it is also a short book. With its bright tones and very relatable topic to most readers, is this a summer read to take with you to the beach?
There are two types of people in the world: those who can only remember yesterday (Monos), and those who can also recall the day before (Duos). You have just one lifeline to the past: your diary. Each night, you write down the things that matter. Each morning, your diary tells you where you were, who you loved and what you did.
Can you trust the police? Can you trust your husband? Can you trust yourself?
Last week’s Top Ten Tuesday (which is sadly on holiday — how will we survive?!) was about the best books you’ve read during the first half of 2017. Unfortunately, I am unable to recall off the top of my head anything that absolutely stands out (I’m blaming depression and anxiety for this). I had to check my Goodreads shelves, and I don’t have enough to make a full list of ten books!