All about books: The Distant Hours

I finished reading Kate Morton's new book The Distant Hours today. I bought it a couple of months ago and then put off reading it, savouring its presence on the To Be Read pile. I am an unabashed fan of Ms Morton's writing, having devoured both The Shifting Fog and The Forgotten Garden. I find her particular combination of storytelling and beautiful prose, overlaid with a whiff of family saga, quite compelling.

The Distant Hours did not disappoint. But now it is over. As with the best stories, I never wanted to leave the world that had been created. This time, however, I'm taking a little something extra with me.

"She says there are stories everywhere and that people who wait for the right one to come along before setting pen to paper end up with very empty pages. That's all writing is, apparently, capturing sights and thoughts on paper."

That quote really resonated with me. It sums up much of what I've said before about 'waiting for the muse'. It reminded me that writing is about capturing what goes on around us. Bringing our own particular spin to the everyday.

It stayed with me as I watched Mr6's Christmas concert tonight. The pinched, anxious face of a child looking for Mum and Dad in the crowd. The wide smile that lights that face as he spots the hands waving wildly in support. The tall blonde sprite wearing the 'Elves Gone Wild' t-shirt, completely deadpan throughout the whole performance. The unabashed joy of the Kindy kids in their Santa hats and Angel halos, beaming as they work through their 'choralography', contrasted with the excruciating group self-consciousness of the sixth-grade class.

Small moments every one of them. Each a family saga in itself.

{image: katemorton.com/journal}