Tom Shakespeare

Country solicitor Fred has hired a stunning house for his fortieth birthday party and invited his nearest and dearest. Each comes with their own baggage but when Fred announces that he has written a memoir some are more worried than others. As Fred confronts his own demons, his friends and family show their true colours.
At a very simple level I really enjoyed this book. It wears its homage to PGWodehouse blatently, and not just in the use of a pig as a key character, and that's no bad thing. It's funny but almost feels funny by numbers, there are no plot twists, it's predictable. I enjoyed it but was glad it was short!… (mehr)

Quakers have their traditional witnesses to peace, truth, equality and simplicity, lbut are these enough to practice? Does an emergency not demand more of us? Where can we find hope when everything looks dark? In an era of pandemic, climate emergency, and right wing populism does Quaker history or the Bible offer hope? Can we find positive stories in Britain and abroad that help us see a way forward? What if we look close up, or saw the bigger picture, or saw things from the point of view of eternity?… (mehr)