runner

A coming of age story beautifully told. It is a time of hope just after the 2^nd World War and Robert Appleyard goes for a walk in the beautiful Durham countryside. He encounters Dulcie Piper; a recluse, who lives off the land and she welcomes 16 year old Robert into her home. She recognizes in him a young man on the cusp of adulthood and through her guidance and tuition she attempts to instil in him some decent values. It is the lyrical writing of the author Benjamin Myers that makes this story a joy to read….”The day was scented with the perfume of jupp trees imbuing everything with fresh hope and renewed courage…..”Grief is a swallow he said. One day you wake up and you think its gone but its only migrated to some other place warming its feathers. Sooner or later it will return”……..”what is war: its started by the few, and fought by the many, and everyone loses in the end”…..”Great journeys are never about the destination”…..”The night alone had me drunk enough, in time it took me entirely”…”There is poetry in silence but both don’t stop to make it”… Highly recommended