In the time when I am undergoing chemotherapy I am unable to go out as often as I would like and often cannot mix with friends so I spend much of my time reading and writing.   Here I share some of my work and views with you.

SACRED HEARTS  

1570 in the Italian city of Ferrara, and the convent of Santa Caterina is filled with noble women who are married to Christ because they cannot find husbands on the outside. Enter 16 year old Serafina, howling with rage and hormones and determined to escape. Her arrival disrupts the harmony and stability of the convent, as overseen by Madonna Chiara, an abbess as fluent in politics as she is in prayer. She assigns the novice into the care of Suora Zuana, the scholarly nun who runs the dispensary and treats all manner of sickness, from pestilence and melancholy to self-inflicted wounds. As an unlikely relationship builds between the two women, others figures stand watching and waiting; most notably theå novice mistress, Suora Umiliana, a crusader for God and ever stricter piety and the mysterious, decrepit Suora Magdalena, incarcerated in her cell with a history of ecstasy and visions.

This book is well researched and well crafted, and the descriptions are detailed. Perhaps too detailed to keep the work interesting.  The author is keen for you too appreciate how clever she is and how much work she has put into her research. This gets old very fast.  The story line is completely unbelievable and a very secondary part of the piece when compared to the description of life in a 16th Century convent so I cannot recommend this work.

Believe  

Ultrasound then surgery

C T scan – lumpectomy

Felt great before they worked on me

Can you believe it?

To Glasgow for a hickman line

On good days, though I do feel fine

It hardly seems this life is mine

Can you believe it?

Coloured capsules: lots of pills

Hygiene, mouthwash ulcerous ills

Nosebleeds leaving bright red spills

Can you believe it?

Lethargy and long, long naps

Daytime TV: memory gaps

Sleepless nights spent reading pap

Can you believe it?

Urine dark as Grandpa’s tea

Baldy pate & sore left knee

The doctors say they’re curing me –

Can you believe it?

By Christmas time – I’m truly blessed

Accepting someone else knows best

Cured and  healed with time for rest

You can believe it.

Valerie Penny

Virals

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage “sci-philes” who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot-if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer’s scent.

Fortunately, they are now more than friends- they’re a pack. They are Virals.  Unfortunately, this is a very poor book and not up to Kathy Reichs’ usual standards.  It really disappointed me. The storyline is far-fetched, the characters not well drawn and I certainly cannot recommend this work.

I can only do what I have the energy to do from day to day. If that is reading writing and sharing my views, as I recover, so be it. Bear with me while I heal.

Valerie Penny