Nicole Moore, co-founder of Words of Colour, explains why she is stepping down as Creative Arts Director and outlines her future creative plans.
Time Out feature writer and reviewer Tamara Gausi offers some pointers to budding critics including how to cope with adverse reactions to your reviews.
The loss of one of her twin boys inspired holistic complementary therapist, artist and writer Hyacinth Myers to offer other parents a creative outlet. She highlights why.
Susan Yearwood has launched a new literacy agency. As one of a handful of UK-based black book agents she is on the look out for talented new voices.
Read the second and final part in our series - a week in the life of a budding writer - with our short story competition winners. This time it’s runner up Mahsuda Shah.
September 2007
The Bride Stripped Bare
Author: Anonymous
Publisher: Forth Estate
RRP: £7.99 (paperback)
Review by: Marsha Blake
The title of this novel is as vague as the information on the female author. Intrigue is apparent from the outset with a questionable letter to the publisher at the beginning of the book from the author’s mother. It details the mysterious disappearance of her daughter, followed by her discovering the transcript of the novel on a laptop (belonging to her daughter). How cute, I yawned, but had to admit I was curious and by the first few pages I was drawn into this woman’s ‘secret life’.
The bestsellers’ lists are currently flooded with blog-style, confessional books, giving far-too-intimate and borderline obscene details of their private lives. The success of these books reveals the voyeuristic nature of our society. Although explicit in places, The Bride Stripped Bare is so beautifully written, so perfectly personal, that you may even forgive the author for using the ‘C’ word every now and then.
The novel gives an insight into the life of a newly married woman in her mid-thirties. She constantly analyses her life: comparing it to others, comparing her teenage self to her current self, comparing her single status to her married state - all delivered through stream-of-consciousness musings. It’s immediately clear that this woman is her own worst critic, which will either render her endearing or annoying to the reader – depending on their own frame of mind.
As the book is written in the first person, we never learn the name of the main character, but all else is revealed. She concisely describes not only her smug relief in marital bliss, but the sacrifice of her identity - a compromise in the arrangement. She describes her complex relationship with her husband. With him she is free to be herself, yet in many ways she has to censor herself and suppress her desires. Her marriage represents a prison, but also offers security: a place to come home to, a future.
Fresh from her honeymoon, the main character discovers her husband’s infidelity – with her best friend. She’s thrown into emotional turmoil. The account which follows describes her journey of self-discovery as she struggles to deal with the double betrayal. In many ways she feels underdeveloped ‘not yet formed ’ . And her husband’s deceit gives her a self-righteous licence to put herself first for the first time in her life, to delve into every deep, dark facet of her being.
’You’ve decided that for the next six months, you’ll live your life differently from the way you’ve ever lived it before: indulgently, selfishly, wilfully, before marriage and motherhood close over you.
A chance meeting with an out-of-work actor leads to an affair of her own leading to the unexpected exhilaration of being in control, which she has never experienced before.
The book, in some places, is shocking, but overall it is a strange tale of the personal awakening, empowerment and maturing of the main character. Issues such as friendship, motherhood and sexuality are explored in a no-holds-barred fashion. The author is protected by her anonymity and therefore freer to express herself. The frankness will either endear or repulse, depending on the readers frame of mind.
Madhvi Ramani praises Random, the latest play from debbie tucker green that taps into a growing crisis – random violence.
Joy Francis explains why BBC1’s new adult drama Mistresses feels as illicit as a late night raid on the fridge.
If you would like to submit a review of a play, film, book, gig, poetry event or art exhibition then check in with us. To keep the section topical any event needs to run for more than a week. For more information, contact us.