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Home is a place you won’t see again
Home’s what you lost when you boarded the boat
Home is the songs you sing to keep sane
Home is the seeds in the hem of your coat

Home is the warm soft bread that you bake
Home is the old-country clothes that you make
Home is the musical language you speak
Home is the garden where you plant the seeds

Home is the tree that grows from your seeds
Home is the shelter and shade of the tree
Home is the love in your children’s eyes
Home is the future here to which they aspire.

The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan

Lots of novels have been written about the Second World War. Very few of them though are told from the point of view of ordinary German people.

The Blue Suitcase is Marianne Wheelaghan's first novel, based on her mother's diaries, the family's letters and additional historical research.

Told in the format of a diary, the novel follows Antonia from 1932 when she was 12, growing up in Silesia, a part of Germany that is now in Poland and ending in 1946, when she leaves Germany to start training as a nurse in the UK.

The diary format works brilliantly, you can sense Antonia's growing maturity, from her self centred attitude to her 12th birthday meal being disrupted through her unsuitable friendship with Liesl and Rolf who are the only children to befriend her when she first moves away from the town of Breslau (now Wroclaw) to a small village to her later forced labour helping to build the city defences during the siege of Breslau.

It is interesting to see the different reactions that her family have towards Hitler as he comes to power and takes over in Germany then their different responses to the war. One of her brothers joins the Communist party and is imprisoned in a series of concentration camps, another enthusiastically becomes a member of the Hitler Youth.Her mother, a doctor, vociferously opposes Hitler, and is pushed out of her job by his edicts against women working in the professions. She later becomes very ill.

This compelling and moving novel is essential reading for anyone who wants to see how the Second World War affected ordinary German families.

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Having recently being totally taken in by Binjamin Wilkormski's Fragments (which I review here) I was pleased to read on Marianne's website a full explanation of  how she wrote the book and where her information came from! (Scroll down on this page).


The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan, published by Pilrig Press. 

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Although this novel is unusual in being told from the viewpoint of an ordinary German during 2nd World War, it isn't unique. I recently reviewed Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrick Christian Delius.

As ever, all coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Fragments by Binjamin Wilkormski

I'm currently teaching a writing class on 'Writing Our Lives' and am reading through some memoirs to share with the class to give them an idea of the variety in this type of writing.

Fragments is an astonishing, powerful memoir about Binjamin Wilkormski's childhood in concentration camps and orphanages. It is never an easy read, but it is totally compelling.

If like me you have read a lot of books and watched a lot of films set during the Holocaust, you may think you are prepared for the horrors that lie in a book like this. I think though that this book gives more insights into the searing horror of the concentration camps than anything else I've read. The effect is particularly poignant because the author was so young at the time and he remembers things from a child's perspective. Things just happen to him and around him and he has no way of understanding or making sense of any of it, let along even hoping to have any control over things. The fragmented memories presented in the book, with memories from the concentration camp mixed up with memories from the orphanage, are incredibly powerful in the overall sense they give of hischildhood.

Most telling is how, when Wilmorski finds himself finally in a safe orphanage in Switzerland, he doesn't trust it and behaves as he would when he was in a concentration camp.

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Talking of trust, though, I've just done an internet search to find a link for Binjamin Wilkomirski and apparently Fragments was in 1999 uncovered as a fabrication or more precisely a book based on false memories (It seems that Wilkimorski was actually Swiss, born Bruno Grosjean). I decided not to rewrite this review, the book remains just as powerful in its effect and still has truths to tell us about the Holocaust, and after all many novels have been written on the same topic. Or does the fact that it was fabricated and presented as a truth, now undermine it completely? What do you think?

You may be interested to read Why Would One Pretend to be a Victim of the Holocaust? which examines themes around false memories, with specific reference to Wilkomisrski's book.

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks to other webpages where you can find out more.

Special offer on Unthinkable Skies!

If you buy a copy of my poetry pamphlet Unthinkable Skies from me (£4.50 plus postage and packing) I'll add in a free bookmark of this style, while stocks last. If you'd like a specific bookmark let me know, and I'll send it to you if it's still available otherwise it will be the most similar one still in stock.

Grave with Lights by JoAnne McKay

On our recent holiday in Dumfries and Galloway (which you can read about on Crafty Green Poet here, here, here and here) Crafty Green Boyfriend had a lovely lunch with poet JoAnne McKay, who blogs at Titus the Dog. JoAnne gave me a copy of her latest poetry pamphlet Grave with Lights.

The first thing you notice about this book is that it's a beautiful object, beautifully packaged in a handmade fabric cover.

The beautiful presentation continues inside with paintings from Victor Henderson to complement the poetry. I do like poetry pamphlets that make full use of the possibilities of presentation, making the pamphlet a lovely thing in itself not just the plain vehicle for the poetry. There is a risk of style over substance of course, but this isn't an issue in this case as these poems certainly have plenty of substance. Variety too.

The poems here range over slaughterhouses, pets, damaged souls, waiting rooms and convents. My favourite poem is I Would Be Fast in which the speaker imagines herself a bicycle and the words whoosh along at the speed and rhythm of a cyclist:

push against casing to ride alongside
racing lines, Cycling pedals hypnotise
on passing, moving air, rush, moving air, rush. 

There are only thirteen poems in this pamphlet, but they're all well worth reading and re-reading and the quality of the production means that you'll want to keep picking the book up!

Grave with Lights by JoAnne McKay, £10 plus postage and packaging, available here.

The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri N Murari

When I was a child I used to watch in bemused fascination the cricket that my Dad used to follow on TV. So although I've never been a cricket fan I've certainly always had a certain interest which was very much piqued when I came across The Taliban Cricket Club. (In fact I won the book in a competition on the Curious Book Fans' website.)

The concept of Afghanistan under the Taliban deciding to start a national cricket team is one of those audaciously bizarre plot ideas that really grabs the readers attention (though this unlikely seeming premise is actually true though the novel is entirely fictional).

Rukhsana is a young Afghan woman, educated in Delhi and a respected journalist before the Taliban prevented her from working (at which point she went undercover in her writing). She had learned to play cricket in India and when her brother and cousins get the opportunity to put together a team she coaches them.

Rukhsana is a brilliant character, who the reader can engage with immediately. She is feisty and likeable, pulled between her desire for freedom and her love for her ageing and ill mother. The novel is very well plotted, with the several twists and turns reading entirely naturally, while keeping the reader guessing all the time. The political background is really well drawn too and Murari does an excellent job of weaving telling political detail into the narrative without it bogging down the plotting.

It may be far fetched in some ways, but it's engaging, entertaining and well written, while offering insights into Afghanistan under the Taliban. 

The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri N Murari published by Allen and Unwin.

As ever, coloured text takes you to other web-pages where you can find out more.

Book Spine Poetry

 The People of Paper Drive the Sea Road, the Cowards!

 Looking for the Possible Dance, all Passion Spent, Penguin lost the Iguana

 The Stone Gods Writing in the Sand the File on H

 Unweaving the Rainbow, the Tiger that isn't the Black Swan

 City of Djinns - What am I Doing Here? Fishing in Utopia!

 The Dharma Bums never trust a rabbit from a Persian Tea House

The Effect of Living Backwards in the Criminal's Cabinet - The Museum of Innocence

Thanks Marianne for inspiring me to pick up my camera for these photos! Edinburgh City Libraries would be interested to see more examples of book spine poetry!

Silent Souls (Ovsyanki)

A bleak landscape. A man who has just lost his wife prepares her body for cremation and takes her, with his best friend and two caged buntings, on a last trip round places that were important to the couple when she was alive.

A funeral pyre on a beach. Ashes scattered in the river to find their way into eternity.

A mesmerising film of the Merja people of the Volga region of Russia.

Osyvanki (Silent Souls) is showing at Edinburgh Filmhouse until Thursday.

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other pages, where you can find out more.

Venus in Transition

I was delighted to be asked by Andrew C Ferguson to be one of the voices of Venus Carmichael, in this tribute to the 60s/70s Scottish singer songwriter.

The first show I took part in, was last night at Captains Bar in Edinburgh and went really well. I really enjoyed working beside Andrew with his guitar and Kelly Brooks with her wonderful singing voice (You can listen to some tracks here). The songs are great and the interweaving of songs with spoken word works really well. 

The Captain's Bar is one of my favourite places to read / perform in Edinburgh. It's a long thin room, not obviously congenial to performance but there's always a great atmosphere there. I also get much more of a buzz working in collaboration with other people (specially musicians) so I particularly enjoyed being part of the Venus Carmichael Tribute.

I'm also looking forward to future performances, I think there'll be one in November, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile tonight I'm reading poetry and some other short pieces at Captains Bar, from 6pm alongside Rosie Bell, Mark Gilfillan, James Spence and Helen Boden.

As ever, coloured text contains hyperlinks that take you to other pages where you can find out more. 

Grim(m) - Unreal Stories for Real Times

I was delighted to win (in a Twitter competition) a pair of tickets to a show of my choice at Greenside (Venue 231 at Edinburgh Fringe Festival). After browsing the excellent programme, we decided to see Grim(m) - Unreal Stories for Real Times. This show, by the excellent Scottish-German storytelling company Louna Productions, is one hour of dark, surreal retellings of Grimm's tales, interwoven with Scottish folk tales.

Storytellers / actors Anna Lehr and Louisa Thornton narrate all the stories and play all the roles, slipping seamlessly from old queen to young boy to old woodcutter to weaver and back again. They have a very engaging style, with a sly humour that pervades even the darkest elements of the stories. The weird undercurrents of violence and obsession with baking people into black puddings comes directly from the Grimm Brothers and pervade all the stories that interweave through this compelling and darkly magical show. 

There are wonderful moments too, my favourite being a young boy's unexpected reaction to two funerals. I won't spoil the moment by saying any more....

The staging is excellent, good lighting, fun costumes and props. The venue in fact is overall, excellent (except the chairs are a bit uncomfortable!). The venue also has a cafe, which I've heard serves excellent chocolate muffins, but we were too late arriving to have time for coffee, unfortunately!

Grim(m) - Unreal Stories for Real Times - showing at Greenside, 10pm tonight is the last show!

Greenside are giving away tickets to one new Twitter follower every day, so if you're on Twitter, please follow GreensideVenue.