Beyond the Book is series of articles I began publishing monthly in August 2024 to subscribers. I’m republishing the first issue here today. To receive future issues as they appear and a bonus chapter, sign up here. An elusive heroine I think most writers would agree we don’t usually choose our characters, they choose us! … Continue reading Frances Sitwell: An Elusive Heroine #BeyondTheBook
I was introduced to Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Christmas Sermon (first published 1888) at an online lecture in December 2020 by Stevenson expert amd fan Robert Louis Abrahamson. If I’m unconsciously replicating any of what RLA (whom I’ve since met) said, apologies and also thanks to him. Thanks too to Debbie Young for inviting me to … Continue reading Kindness at Christmas: R.L. Stevenson’s ‘A Christmas Sermon’
‘This is a private house …’ says a small but noticeable addition to the doorbell of 17 Heriot Row in Edinburgh, the home for many years of writer Robert Louis Stevenson, his parents and their small entourage of servants. Thanks to the hospitality of current resident John Mcfie and his family, a private house, albeit … Continue reading A private house, not a museum: visiting the Edinburgh home of Robert Louis Stevenson
My daughter unearthed this in an Oxfam shop a few months ago and just got round to bringing it home. It has all the fascination of an old book, or in this case an old magazine with a hessian (?) cover and what I suppose is an old version of a ‘perfect’ binding, i.e. the … Continue reading Robert Louis Stevenson – a bit of a find
Ali Bacon, Author 