I love the audio version. It's well paced, & I was making pictures out of your words as you spoke them: the coloured lights, Cocktail Sobranes, your brothers' den.... Speaking the songs gives them a gravitas that singing them wouldn't have. There's foreboding in that phrase, "Poor boy, you're gonna die"; death being a metaphor for school, perhaps.
Great to hear you reading the chapter, I've always prefered the spoken word to the written word. Also lovely to hear your voice (not as POSH as I thought it would be! Lots of Love Willy Redman
You have a beautiful reading voice, Emma. I really enjoyed the audio, especially when reading along at the same time. I did wonder how you were going to handle the lyrics? Guess you decided not to sing! ;-). I love this line "When this song floats in now it’s folded into later formative memories:" It's interesting how memory works this way. So evocative...
So glad you liked the audio and thank you for these perceptive observations. Yes, the nature of memory is gripping. I'm drafting a follow-up post to the Author's note i posted in March https://thedryingrooms.substack.com/p/authors-note-memory-underpins-imagination. The lyrics were certainly a challenge. I tried different ways of doing it, but singing them would have resulted in being disowned by my children.
I really love the audio and the beautiful sound of your voice. Yes, please continue with it….
What an exquisite description of your holiday and the Embassy life in Khartoum. I close my eyes and can picture it so clearly. I can also picture your Mum and Dad, and of course the boys. It really captures that time in history when cigarettes were offered, or left in special cigarette boxes along with cocktails and nibbles! That diplomatic overseas life that seems so familiar and so long ago. The underlying sadness in your writing, and memories of time gone, make it so poignant.
It is seeped with foreboding, knowing you will have to return to boarding school. I remember that feeling so well.
Beautiful Emma. I read it but will listen later. The thought of you and your parents sleeping on the roof is instant picture book material, though the rest of it so sophisticated and complex and heartbreaking.
I love the thought of it appearing in a picture book, Ruby. One of yours maybe? And thank you for recommending my Substack in your Substack. It has generated some readers which is lovely.
Thank you for this, Chris. I hope I’m right about bulbuls. It certainly means nightingale in Turkish (from Arabic) but it’s possible that the word bulbul is used for other birds. Maybe someone more ornithological than me can enlighten us!
Lovely to hear your voice again... Really enjoyed listening to this chapter and hearing about your home. Looking forward (in a strange way), to experience you voicing more about school...which jogs my memory - my reminiscing about the place is post nasty matron, so its eye-opening and saddens me. My experience of home was very mixed; school was my safe place... half a century plus ago nearly...
And lovely to get this from you, Angie. Thank you. I’m so glad the school was a good place for you. It had plenty of good moments for me too, and there were decent, kind teachers - but the effect of Cruel matron dominates my memories
I love the audio version. It's well paced, & I was making pictures out of your words as you spoke them: the coloured lights, Cocktail Sobranes, your brothers' den.... Speaking the songs gives them a gravitas that singing them wouldn't have. There's foreboding in that phrase, "Poor boy, you're gonna die"; death being a metaphor for school, perhaps.
Thank you so much for this lovely, insightful comment, Lal
Yes, yes to the reading of this. Beautifully done!
I love the audio! It adds another layer, and comforting to hear your voice. I also love this chapter and the image it conjures xx
Thank you so much, Beckie. So glad you like the audio too.
Great to hear you reading the chapter, I've always prefered the spoken word to the written word. Also lovely to hear your voice (not as POSH as I thought it would be! Lots of Love Willy Redman
Great that you like the audio, Willy. And I’m glad I’m not as posh as you expected!
You have a beautiful reading voice, Emma. I really enjoyed the audio, especially when reading along at the same time. I did wonder how you were going to handle the lyrics? Guess you decided not to sing! ;-). I love this line "When this song floats in now it’s folded into later formative memories:" It's interesting how memory works this way. So evocative...
So glad you liked the audio and thank you for these perceptive observations. Yes, the nature of memory is gripping. I'm drafting a follow-up post to the Author's note i posted in March https://thedryingrooms.substack.com/p/authors-note-memory-underpins-imagination. The lyrics were certainly a challenge. I tried different ways of doing it, but singing them would have resulted in being disowned by my children.
I really love the audio and the beautiful sound of your voice. Yes, please continue with it….
What an exquisite description of your holiday and the Embassy life in Khartoum. I close my eyes and can picture it so clearly. I can also picture your Mum and Dad, and of course the boys. It really captures that time in history when cigarettes were offered, or left in special cigarette boxes along with cocktails and nibbles! That diplomatic overseas life that seems so familiar and so long ago. The underlying sadness in your writing, and memories of time gone, make it so poignant.
It is seeped with foreboding, knowing you will have to return to boarding school. I remember that feeling so well.
Thank you for this lovely evocative comment . I will continue!
Yes, please continue the audio! You have an excellent voice and narrate so well!
Thank you so much Kathryn. I’m so pleased the audio works for you. I’ll definitely have another go at it.
Beautiful Emma. I read it but will listen later. The thought of you and your parents sleeping on the roof is instant picture book material, though the rest of it so sophisticated and complex and heartbreaking.
I love the thought of it appearing in a picture book, Ruby. One of yours maybe? And thank you for recommending my Substack in your Substack. It has generated some readers which is lovely.
Emma, I loved that! So evocative and also astonishing - how much life has changed! And you read it beautifully. Thank you.
Oh good! Thank you so much Anna. I’m glad you like the voice over.
I never realised Bulbuls were nightingales! What a lovely chapter- though still some fear and loneliness in there. Xx
Thank you for this, Chris. I hope I’m right about bulbuls. It certainly means nightingale in Turkish (from Arabic) but it’s possible that the word bulbul is used for other birds. Maybe someone more ornithological than me can enlighten us!
Lovely to hear your voice again... Really enjoyed listening to this chapter and hearing about your home. Looking forward (in a strange way), to experience you voicing more about school...which jogs my memory - my reminiscing about the place is post nasty matron, so its eye-opening and saddens me. My experience of home was very mixed; school was my safe place... half a century plus ago nearly...
And lovely to get this from you, Angie. Thank you. I’m so glad the school was a good place for you. It had plenty of good moments for me too, and there were decent, kind teachers - but the effect of Cruel matron dominates my memories