L is for Lancaster, Levi’s and Leap Year: Part 2
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
1w ago
February 28th, 2021. I have just finished five and a half months of chemotherapy. Next week, I start five days of radiotherapy. The end is in sight though, as time passes, I will come to understand that, when you have had cancer, there is never really an end. You will always have to push down the feeling that, at any point in the near or distant future, it might come back and snatch away your life. This is the bad bit. The good bit is that it makes you appreciate every day. It makes you grateful for the people you have in your life. 2020 was not a normal year for anyone. Mine is just another s ..read more
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L is for Lancaster, Levi’s and Leap Year: Part 1
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
2w ago
It’s 1986. I am an undergrad at Lancaster University, far away from my south Devon home. I’m used to rain but not to this bitter wind that shrieks like a banshee through the bleak Gulag-y landscape that is campus. It’s a different time: Reagan and Thatcher are BFFs, Nelson Mandela is still to be freed and Fat Boy Slim and his mates from Hull have a chart hit with an a cappella version of Caravan of Love. Meanwhile, Colin Baker is the sixth Doctor, Neighbours debuts in the UK and Dirty Den hands Angie Watts divorce papers on Christmas Day. On campus, there is a sea of double denim, dungarees an ..read more
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A Letter from Mabel
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
3M ago
Been a while since I transcribed one of my great-grandmother’s letters from her time in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. (Trigger warnings: she was from another era, another time so her words are not always PC.) Horekelly, Madampe, Ceylon December 4th, 1900 My dearest Mother A Happy Christmas to you and everyone, and I hope you will all have a good time. It seems such ages since the Christmas before last. I don’t count last year at all because it was so muddling and strange. I suppose George and I will have a very quiet time by our lone lone selves. I don’t even expect there will be a service at t ..read more
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P is for Pet Loss
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
4M ago
Millie and Susan When we first get a puppy, back in 2007, our kids are 8, 10 and 11-years-old. We visit the litter a couple of weeks after they are born. Six little furry things, snuggled up together, paddling tiny paws against their mother. We choose the only girl. Black with a white flash across her chest. My mum comes along to see them. Lethal. She holds a squeaking brindle boy and falls in love. In a few weeks, they come home. Buddy goes to Mum’s. Perfect timing as my step-father has recently had to go into a nursing home as he has advanced Alzhiemer’s. Buddy helps fill the void. Brings li ..read more
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I is for Icicle
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
4M ago
St Michael and All Angels, Bampton What I love about visiting churches is the odd stories that crop up. Yesterday I went in search of a reconfigured headstone that remembers a man killed in unlucky circumstances. ‘In memory of the clerk’s son Bless my iiiiii Here he lies In a sad pickle Killed by icicle In the year 1776.’ Stone embedded to the left of the tower doorTower door ..read more
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Y is for Yew
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
4M ago
One of the yews of St Mary’s Last weekend, on our journey back from Llangollen to the Wirral, we stopped off in Overton-on-Dee to count off the last of the Seven Wonders of Wales: Maybe not the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but the twenty-three yew trees in the churchyard of St Mary’s form an impressive circle around the church and are well worth a visit. During a chance meeting with the organist amongst the tombs, we discovered a little more about the trees. Now supported by yew props and protected by railings, the oldest is classed as ancient.* This tree predates the church which was most like ..read more
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D is for Death
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
5M ago
St Thomas’ churchyard, Heptonstall Our little lives are rounded with a sleep. This week Hero Press announced that they will publish my first non-fiction book D is for Death in April 2024. It’s been a project of love and has been all-consuming but I am excited that you will finally get to read it in a few months. In the meantime, here is the blurb. Hero acquires unique A to Z guide to death  Hero Press has acquired world rights for D is for Death by Sophie Duffy. This fascinating A to Z of death will be published in the UK on 20th April 2024. Rights were acquired by Christian Müller ..read more
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D is for Death
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
1y ago
New Project https://www.rlf.org.uk/showcase/d-is-for-death/ So sorry I’ve been so rubbish at posting on here but I’ve been busy with cancer recovery and a new venture – a non-fiction book about all things death and dying, a change of direction for me. Rather than telling you all about it here, please have a read of the above article I wrote for the Royal Literary Fund. And please come along for the ride and I promise to be more present on here, feeding you snippets of interesting information and, of course, stories. Meanwhile, here’s an image for you. Of my favourite door which got me the most ..read more
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Betsy and Lilibet
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
3y ago
Baby Queen Elizabeth II Delighted by the news today that Harry and Meghan have named their new baby girl Lilibet Diana. A nod to her great grandmother and her late grandmother. Despite everything, this is a new addition to a family who have had a hard time – being rich and royal doesn’t exempt you from the strifes of family life. Let’s hope that baby Lili will forge her own path and add good to the world. And here’s a book trailer for my novel, ‘Betsy and Lilibet’, my homage to the Silent Generation. If you’re wondering who Betsy is ..read more
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One Year on…Party, Party.
sophieduffy
by sophieduffy
3y ago
The Grand Oriental Hotel Colombo Nov 27th 1900 Dearest Tommie A year on Friday since I left England. It seems longer than that, don’t you think? Sometimes it seems ages and ages since I saw you all, and yet the fact of not having had any winter makes it seem wrong somehow. We came down from N. Eliya yesterday, very sorry to leave although we ought not to grumble as we have been there a month all but three days, at least, I have. George, of course, missed four days when he went down to Marawila. We are going to Horekelly on Thursday and we really don’t know yet how long we are to stay there. G ..read more
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