Welcome back to the blog at the end of a busy week in my household!

This week, I attended my Masters graduation ceremony – which was an absolutely magical day! Receiving an honorary graduate award at the ceremony was writer Helena Whitbread, who discovered the Anne Lister diaries and brought them to life, culminating in the eventual series’ Gentleman Jack. Her speech and life were a total inspiration, and reminded me that it’s never too late to start writing!

I also celebrated by 50th birthday on Friday, and felt very spoilt by family and friends, and today is my youngest child’s 16th birthday. It feels like I’ve been eating cake for days…not necessarily a bad thing! But as enjoyable as it has been, I am looking forward to getting back into a regular routine next week.

Despite the busyness, I have managed to finish my first read of the year! The Insperables is the newly discovered novel by Simone de Beauvoir. The story is based on a real-life friendship Beauvoir had as a young girl, and has been beautifully translated by author Lauren Elkin.

The slim novella was a gift from my daughter for Christmas and was a wonderful treat to read at the start of a new reading year! It is pretty short but perfectly formed, and speaks to larger issues of women’s place in the world. I would highly recommend! I will be basing my Substack newsletter on a review and exploration of its themes this Sunday. Subscribe here for more!

I was lucky enough to receive some book vouchers for my birthday this week, and can’t wait to go book shopping! For some reason though, I always feel under pressure when I buy books; I think it’s because I usually borrow them from the library or if I can’t find them, I will order them online from sites like e-bay and World of Books. To buy a brand new book from a larger bookstore feels like a daunting challenge: what if I buy something I don’t enjoy? It always feels too risky!

I was interested to read this week that independent bookshops are having a bit of a revival. Despite many fearing risk of closure, the rise in popularity and sales has been put down to a surge in reading during Covid lockdowns, and an eagerness to go out and frequent local independent bookshops on their reopening. What a positive outcome from something so negative!

I was sad to hear of the death of writer Fay Weldon this week at the age of 91. Weldon was a novelist powerhouse, writing stories of often downtrodden and rebelling women, some of which were made into successful television series.

All these inspiring women writers have me desperate to go in search of some great books to read next, as well as a determination to keep writing…until next week, happy reading (and writing)!

Kate