I have just come back from a holiday in the Tweed Valley, an area I love. While there I indulged my passion for books by following a Book-trail. One of the sites visited was BARTER BOOKS in Alnwick where 350,000 books are wonderfully housed in the old railway station. My three daughters and a son-in-law, who are also passionate about books, were with me and we spent over four hours there!

In 1977 I purchased a book, newly published, entitled HAYWIRE written by Brooke Hayward, daughter of the American movie star Margaret Sullavan. It is a book that has remained in my mind because I believe it took a great deal of courage to write and reveal the tragedies that had struck  the privileged life of her family by the time she was twenty-three.  Since I purchased that book I had never seen another copy until last week when I was in BARTER BOOKS.  It was a signed copy! I had to have it !  Then the signing set me wondering.  It reads, ‘To John – Have a good trip back – Best wishes – Brooke Hayward.’   I wondered, Who was John?  Where had he been and where was he going? Where had the book been signed? Was John a personal friend of Brooke Hayward?  Intriguing questions to which I will never know the answers. 

But I have a signature of someone whom I have admired for a long time for her courage.

The book now stands on my bookshelves alongside my original purchase.

I have just read and thoroughly enjoyed A KIND MAN by Susan Hill. I am a fan and love her economy of words without losing impact. They still make an impression, keep the story moving, and are brilliant in creating character. Her ghost stories are short, a necessity, so that the ghostly atmosphere is not marred by being over-played. A KIND MAN is also short and, while it wouldn’t be classed as a ghost story, it has an atmosphere that necessitates the same treatment. Susan Hill gets it just right.  I am delighted to have it on my bookshelves alongside her, The Woman in Black, Mist In The Mirror, The Man In The Picture, and The Small Hand.