There has been some talk over at Dovegreyreader's about my sister, Ruth, who died of breast cancer, and in whose memory the Lavender Trust was founded. Anyway, given that today is a good day to make cakes, I'm going to post the link to Nigella Lawson's recipe for Lavender Trust cupcakes. They're completely delicious!
13 comments:
Justine, i have just blogged about 'Daphne' also my name ,on my blog. It's not a long blog because if you read me you'll know why but I did love it. It's sent me back to Du Maurier fille et pere and also The Brontes no small achievement. I shall read you at doveg@s she's also a friend of three years although as yet attempts to meet have failed.do you read Randomjottings? She is very well worth reading too. I'm wormauld alife in books and music at blogspot.Hope to meet you there.
Hello! Just read your blog, which is lovely. Tried to comment on your blog, but was somehow prevented from doing so. Anyway, good to make contact here. Having read your blog, I can see why "Daphne" would have resonances for you. There is manic depression in my family, too. Good luck with the journey.
Justine
I read Ruth's book three years ago - I've also posted a comment on dovegrey's post about Ruth's book - and found it so honest and almost unbearably moving. I gave a copy to a friend who was dying of cancer (lung) then and subsequently she wrote letters to her daughters and to her husband ... .
I've also just finished Daphne (wonderful, congratulations). I was partly reading it for research: I am embarking on a novel of parallel stories and I wanted to see how you'd done it. (Brilliantly, I thought.)
I wish you the very best with Daphne.
Angela -- thank you so much for your comment. I think Ruth's book will stand the test of time -- and continue to touch people, as we all share the same experiences it touches upon -- of love and loss.
As for Daphne: I'm so glad you have enjoyed it! What is your novel about? I'm always interested in the weaving of parallel stories. Have you read "The Hours"?
I hope Ruth's book is read and touches people for many many years to come. It deserves to.
I have read The Hours and absolutely loved it (and saw the film).
My next novel is about how we unearth courage when we need it (and how we don't) and what we keep buried ... based partly on my great-grandmother's experience in one of the (far too few) Titanic lifeboats.
Her story will be revisited by a twenty-thirty-something television news journalist ... hence the two lives ... set in 2012. The idea that's sticking at the moment is that the journalist will unearth some early-20th-century diaries, written by my great-grandmother's second husband ... but you know how such plans change in the doing.
That sounds completely fascinating. What a brilliant idea for a book -- and I love novels that are based on real stories, and explore the landscape where truth and fiction mingle. Because the writing of a so-called true story as non-fiction immediately turns it into a kind of fiction -- or at least, one person's subjective point of view. Hence my interest, also, in different narrative voices.
You post suggests that there may be days that are not good days to make cakes. Which are they? I seem to have missed that information and would hate to be cake-making on a day when the stars weren't with me.
You're absolutely right -- every day is a good day! But somehow, Sundays seem like good days for me to bake -- probably because those are the days that I used to bake with my sister.
Just had to jump in, I LOVE The Hours (both book and film). Such clever weaving.
That said, I need to buy another copy of the book - I leant it to someone, who leant it to someone else, but can't remember who. Somehow I doubt I'll be seeing it again...
Robert Fox, the producer who has optioned the film rights to Daphne, was also the producer of "The Hours". And I love the film as well as the book -- which is unusual. It's such clever patterning...
Just found you via Dovegreyreader's blog so I thought I'd pop in here and say hi as well. Having read her review of Daphne I now can't wait to get a copy and read it.
Thanks Helen -- I really hope you enjoy Daphne. I'm going to post a bit more about it here today, so do come back.
I love cupcakes, actually I look for many cupcakes blogs, I love make them and my Sildenafil loves them too, I just have to tell him to buy the ingredients and he does it all the time without complaining!
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