Sea Defences

Product Information

Join us for another free lunchtime recital at Woodbridge Library on Tuesday 28 February and enjoy a performance by one of Woodbridge's favourite buskers, Tim Sadler! Saxophonist Tim Sadler has been playing in bands, groups and solo for over 50 years and nowadays entertains at weddings and parties and is booked regularly by a national hotel chain. Get Knitting at Clare Library immediate impression of Michael’s immature way of seeing the world. There is also a consistent use of accident happened when he was a teenager as he describes in the story that he “left school four years I did think hard about this because I’m not someone who swears, and I do have a threshold where I, too, find it off-putting in literature and drama. Mary’s ‘mild’ swearing is very much part of her character. She is forthright, rather grumpy and generally cross with most people. The other swearing, and there isn’t much, happens when the characters have been brought to extremes of emotion, and their inhibitions are gone.

Mary was struggling too. Her eyesight was failing. There was a mist in the middle of her field of vision. You might wonder about a detached retina but Hilary Taylor trusts her readers: she lets them come to their own conclusions about what's happening and there's plenty to think about. Rachel and Mary are drawn together. Mary's anti-authority and only trusts reluctantly. She has no religious faith but she understands the depths of Rachel's grief: she's suffered losses of her own. The difficulty is that Adam is nursing a secret and it's impossible to see how Rachel will be able to exercise the forgiveness which is the basis of her faith. How we humans act in certain ways to cope with our emotions and comfort ourselves, is extremely different for each individual. Mary refuses to face reality whether it is her failing eyesight or the slow erosion of her land by the sea. She gives poor advice to her teenage son Adam. He interprets everything literally and his point of view is one of the delights of this novel. Would it be kind to mention the reputation of Thelma’s delicious scones, or would it add fuel to her fire? Before she could decide, Thelma said, ‘Still, it’s just as well, I suppose, in the circumstances.’ Your moving and beautifully detailed flash fiction story ‘Make Do And Mend’ recently won second prize in the Flash 500 writing competition. It feels as if this, too, could develop into a longer sequence of writing. Is that something you had in mind?This isn't a book I would have read in the normal course of events but a publicist whose judgement I respect tempted me to have a look. I'm so glad that he did and I can't wait to see what Taylor writes next.

Claudia and Julia have invited some friends to join them, adding in whistle, ukulele and bass. Interspersed in the music will be a sprinkling of poems, making for a varied and entertaining evening. Talk with Author Hilary Taylor at Great Cornard Library negative and sullen imagery in lines 4-12: “There was blood and mud on her face, and her eyes were shut.We've got loads of fun events for adults lined up, including author talks, live music performances, knitting clubs and more!

As a baker and theologian, Kendall Vanderslice has learned that bread is central to the story of God’s work in the world – it appears throughout scripture, calling us to explore what God wants to teach us through the tangible, embodied experiences of baking and breaking bread. The language in lines 1-12 is mostly informal, because of Michael’s childish behavior and way of seeing the world. The section also contains negative words and metaphors that help set a dark mood. Adam is also guarding a secret and, when Rachel finds out what it is it threatens to unravel her faith completely. While not overtly Christian, there are obviously themes around faith in the book. Did you pitch the book to a Christian publisher at all, or were you sure you wanted to go with a mainstream one?

Hilary Taylor is a graduate of Edinburgh University and lives in Suffolk, where she taught for almost twenty years. She has five grown-up children and, at the last count, eight grandchildren. Her short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies and she was the winner of the Bridport Prize for Flash Fiction in 2022. Enjoy an evening of folk music, poems and songs at Woodbridge Library on Thursday 23 February by local duo Claudia Myatt and Julia Dansie, who play guitar and harp! We like to hear about previous prize winners’ successes. Hilary Taylor won third prize in BSSA 2018 with her story ‘Sea Defences’ and her story is published in our BSSA 2018 anthology. In this interview she tells us how she extended this prize winning short fiction into a novel with the same title, which will be published by Lightning Press on January 15th 2023. Congratulations Hilary! We also learn how she discovered her short story ‘Sea Defences’ online, analysed for an exam syllabus. A multi-genre writer, Hilary was recently a winner in the Flash 500 flash fiction contest and there’s a link to the story for you to read. She’s also given great advice for editing final short story drafts if you are thinking of entering this year’s Award. suggesting that the main character, Michael, is telling this story 29 years after the accident happened. The

A stunning debut: evocative descriptions, strong characterisation and a simmering tension which builds to a thrilling finale. Fans of Broadchurch, in particular, will love it.' Sarah Linley

Her life becomes entwined with Mary’s, a loner who is battling against the council and the elements, as her clifftop home is getting ever closer to the crumbling shoreline. Their paths cross and an unlikely friendship (of sorts) sparks. Mary’s adult son Adam is viewed as a bit of a misfit in their community; she is fiercely protective of him – and he is equally protective of the fossils he collects. During a family walk along the beach, Rachel’s daughter goes missing – her body is later found washed up in an isolated cove amongst the seaweed. From this tragedy, the lives of Rachel and Mary become intertwined as they negotiate (in quite different ways) the beauty and peaceful energy of the sea with the fact it ha taken and is taking something from them. How do you defend yourself from the sea?