Friday 31 July 2009

Small Poisons

An apple tree with a name, the scratch of bark, pink blossom, scabby fruits – a beginning – not that I knew it at the time. I grew up with this tree. Climbed it, ate its fruit, knew it intimately. Wrote it into my novel, drew it onto the cover.

What else. Beetles? I have no idea where the beetle came from, other than the obvious Kafka connection. The woodlice come from what I thought was an apocryphal tale until I saw a television chef make an inedible woodlouse pie, which set me wondering.

The garden is a ‘misbegotten attempt to tame paradise’, of course. Chaos and order in balance? No, not a hope, especially not in suburbia, that strange interface between town and country, where neither is allowed the ascendance.

So I entered the garden by a side door, one rarely used, and described what I saw from an angle not usually viewed. Mum, dad, couple of kids, nice garden with an apple tree and a shed. Looks okay from the outside. But… there be poisons here. Small ones. Insidious ones.

And there is love.

Circaidy Gregory Press will publish this novel in a couple of months’ time. Details to follow.