Bryony's Blog

'Long after I read it, there are moments of stillness when I begin to think about the book and how much of myself I see in it.' Bryony Rheam The day I finally finished reading Bryony Rheam's  This September Sun ,   sometime in September, it was the one book I wondered about how I got to the end, why it ended, and why wasn’t I a little slower as I read it. This September Sun is the most profound book I’ve read this year and for an author’s first book, I can only begin to think how this work can claim to be fiction. Long after I read it, there are moments of stillness when I begin to think about the book and how much of myself I see in it. Its ability to linger this long is an experience I’m learning to come to terms with. I’ve read books: Enid Blyton’s Malory Tower series ensured I went to boarding school in a bid to relive the stories. I read another Enid Blyton book about a girl who was a gypsy, who lived in a caravan and was part of a travelling circu...

About a month ago, I found myself trawling the narrow streets of Covent Garden in search of vintage clothing shops. The object of my search was an evening dress to wear to a dinner, but not just any dinner: I was one of the winners of a competition to write a chapter of an Agatha Christie novel.   The prize was dinner with Agatha Christie’s grandson at her home, Greenway, in Devon.   I was also planning to stay on another night for the vintage-themed opening cocktail party for the Agatha Christie Festival.                 Being in London was a slightly surreal experience for me as I had arrived from Zimbabwe the previous day.   The trip was the highlight of my year and one I had been looking forward to for months. It is perhaps a commonly held idea of someone from the third world that London is an abundant source of everything and nothing is particularly difficult to find. It was certainly a ...