There is little doubt that nostalgia can be a useful spark for writing a book. Evidence is the market for memoirs and books that deal with the twenties or with WW2. But if readers are looking for a better place than the present, they need to watch out! Was the past really so good? Were those childhoods really so idyllic?
It seems to me that the past is a bit like the photos we put up on Facebook. We edit them, make them brighter so that they represent a wonderful day. We edit out the bags under our eyes, the blotchy skin, the unwanted shadow and red eye so that these pics show something beautiful. In other words, we decide how the past looks. If we are not careful, we can come to believe the photos ourselves. No wonder the present can seem so dull. No wonder the past was so much more exciting! In comparison with these edited pics, the present will always look shabby and the future will always look bleak.
In "The Poor Singer of an Empty Day" the protagonist, Julian Everett, returns to England after an extended period of time in Italy. His subsequent journey takes him into a past he no longer wishes to visit - and a place where the unedited photograph is still there and waiting to be found.
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