'Cold Light', Jenn Ashworth

A trailer for the lovely Jenn Ashworth's new novel 'Cold Light'.
I'm looking forward to reading it.

Real life.

Ever since she came to Edge Hill to do a reading I have been following writer Jenn Ashworth's blog. I particularly enjoyed her recent entry Girls. Fun., an account of an exercise class for new mothers.  Jenn's is the kind of writing about motherhood (and life in general) that I love to read - it's funny, self-deprecating, sharp and often touching because it's familiar - what new mother hasn't been terrorized, or at least judged (in a way that leaves her in little doubt that she has been found wanting) by a health visitor?

Having kids can bring so much fun to life: son number 2 told me recently that he would like to play badminton, if he could only find a cockle-shit. But it's also horrible too: after I received an offer from an agent, one of the children said, 'It's probably cos she felt sorry for you and she actually thinks your stories are rubbish.' I like writing that shows both sides of the motherhood/life coin. Here are some more of Jenn's musings on life, I particularly like this one and, after the kind of summer holiday I've just had, this one too.

       

The good....and the not so good.

A Kind of Intimacy

I blogged about listening to Jenn Ashworth read from her novel A Kind of Intimacy here. I started reading the book on Saturday morning and finished it by teatime: it was a book that I couldn’t put down. I watched Notes on a Scandal recently and the comparison that Alison Flood makes between the two stories is apt, although I found A Kind of Intimacy more terrifying, which probably had something to do with Annie’s size and age: twenty eight is very young to be so damaged and Annie’s obesity tends towards Stephen King's Misery (Anne Wilkes), rather than the jolly Father Christmas kind.
A Kind of Intimacy was especially disquieting because of Annie’s humanity – her nervousness in social situations, her desire to make friends, her faux pas and her reliance on the advice of self help books all engender empathy – the reader is torn between liking Annie and despising her, between understanding and disgust, between pity and anger. Jenn’s reading of the book was extremely entertaining and as a result I expected it to be much funnier than it was, however it was intriguing and intense and I didn’t feel in any way cheated when I reached the end.
After I finished the book I carried the residue of it with me for the rest of the evening. I was disquieted, uneasy; I felt stirred up and slightly jumbly. I like a book that does that to me; a book that makes me think, knocks me for six, picks me up and gives me a good shake.

Reading ~ A Kind of Imtimacy

Last night I went to see Jenn Ashworth read at the Rose Theatre (Edge Hill University). She read from her novel A Kind of Intimacy. The chapters which she read to us were both funny and touching and it was fabulous to hear the opening of the novel in the voice of its author. Jenn is only 27 and has just completed her second novel which she also read from last night. I was simultaneously inspired and depressed by her brilliance! I bought a copy of A Kind of Intimacy this morning, along with a couple of collections of Helen Simpson’s short stories. It will be very quiet in our house after that particular parcel arrives.