Thoughts and words

Inspiration from weird experiences - a short story entitled: Hotel Kiev

In 1996, I was sent to Ukraine for 3 months to work on a European project to retrain Ukrainian army officers. I had to travel around the country and I soon noticed that from Kiev to Odessa, from Odessa to Kharkov, from Kharkov to Lviv, there was always a man... Read more →

What inspired my novel Lost Property? Past and present in the same room.

Lost Property was partly inspired by the current refugee crisis in Germany. But I also wanted to draw parallels with the refugee crisis in post-war Germany. In 1945, Germany was in ruins and yet it had to accept and assimilate ethnic German refugees kicked out of their ancestral homes in,... Read more →

Nostalgia as inspiration - 2

There is little doubt that nostalgia can be a useful spark for writing a book. The evidence is the market for memoirs and books that deal with the twenties or with WW2. There are many novels dealing with the theme of nostalgia. What are your favourites? You are very welcome... Read more →

Nostalgia as inspiration

At least 3 of my novels have been partly inspired by nostalgia. “The Poor Singer of an Empty Day” came to life while I was living in Herrenberg, Germany. One morning I woke up feeling nostalgic for England and, in particular, for my childhood – hence the dedication and the... Read more →

Memory and reality: Jacqueline du Pre

Last night (Sunday 22 October) I watched "Jacqueline du Pre: A Gift Beyond Words." This was a film made by Christopher Nupen and shown on BBC4. Du Pre has become an almost legendary figure, a musical phenomenon who married Daniel Barenboim. Both Barenboim and du Pre often collaborated with other... Read more →

The promise

It's northern France 1944. Two US soldiers discover that both come from Chicago and promise that should one of them die, the other would drop in on the dead man's family. Before they can make it to the nearest foxhole to exchange names and addresses, one of the men is... Read more →

Inspiration from the newspapers: remembrance and learning from the past.

I found the photo below, and the article to which the photo was attached, in the Sonntags Zeitung - 5 November 2017. The Sonntag's Zeitung is a weekly evangelical publication, and it appears in our postbox every Friday. Several of its articles have grabbed for my attention because the stories... Read more →

The comfort of knowing. Grabbing your inspiration

Out of the blue, these moments strike, flutter in the tummy and jellify the knees. As children, these moments can be frequent. Do you recall the moment when, after hours of car sickness, you see the sea and its horizon straight against the skyline? And then, the excitement of the... Read more →