Tea Time Morsels by Marit Meredith
Tea Time Morsels is a collection of bite-size tales, based on ordinary people's lives and made
all the more remarkable due to their many delightful twists.
The stories are portrayed through a varying age range of characters, thereby
reflecting voices which everyone can appreciatively identify and empathise
with.
Whereas human emotions and contentious issues are mainly explored through
family life's trials and tribulations of: marital discord, loneliness, wistful
memories; a fear of the unknown, what ifs, teenage angst, lost love and death
to name but a few - additionally, the juxtapositions of humour, warmth, hope,
light-heartedness, faith and tongue-in-cheek devilishness - provides an
engaging and uplifting read throughout.
Take for example the tale entitled: 'Killing
Time,' which is told from an old lady's point of view. Whilst she sits at
the window to witness present day-to-day familiar routines, the reader feels
like a neighbour listening to gossip. The tone of the piece is beautifully
paced and does seem to evoke sympathy in aid of the elderly. A differential
however, between the readers' expectations in comparison to the author's
intent, reveals quality writing, which leaves one questioning their own
assumptions.
Something readers will very quickly become aware of is that the characters are
never stereotyped - if anything, they nearly all, including `the third-agers,'
come across as gutsy; a bit wacky and full of spirit.
This reader is not going to give anything away, but did Judge Smythe kill his
wife? Again, the author keeps us guessing and it's a case of
make-up-your-own-mind-time. I'm still contemplating.
'Give me a Break (2)' had me laughing
out loud. This snippet is based on a heated dialogue between daughter and
mother. A classic and wonderful example of teenage angst, meet menopausal mum.
Some of the collections have been published before, in collaborative
anthologies and one in particular: `Sudanese
Cries' was used in `Woman Alive,' a Christian women's magazine.
A particular favourite in the collection that is published in the June 2009
issue of the `First Edition' magazine, is the story entitled: `Mirror Image.'
Overall, the only difficulty with this collection is in choosing which of the
36 stories to read first, as they are all good and less fattening than a
digestive biscuit.
The magazine can be purchased here:
Posts: 84
Comments: 415
Everyone has a universal story to tell, it's the uniqueness of the telling that's the winner! All I need to do is think of something hooky, quirky, funny, original, stupendously creative, clever and wisdomic - I think I'll just stick to writing.
