Monday, August 17, 2009

Artist of the Month: Helen Bradley

We are reading her wonderful book"In the Beginning said Great Aunt Jane". It is a fabulous commentary of Edwardian England.it is also very funny! We have learnt a little about English weather, it rains a lot in ...especially when God leaves Lees, near Oldham, Lancashire(where he lives in a shed on the moor) and goes to Manchester and forgets to turn the tap off! Throughout the book we are transported back to a different time, a slower pace of life, when afternoon walks were the norm. A time when extended family lived close by. And again all this panorma is told through the eyes of the children. It is their perspective of an adult world, and here lies the humor.

"In the beginning," said Great Aunt Jane,"God was young and lived in foreign parts called 'the Void'. The Void was very dark, just like blue velvet. God lived in a shed but he wasn't happy because it was always dark.....So he made a mixture in an old barrel, rolled it into balls and lit them with his matches. They gave out a beautiful white light....'I'll call you stars'.But still they didn't give him day. So he made a big star wit a bright yellow face which he polished with Brasso until it shone .Then he threw it from the highest point in the Void.. It disappeared but soon it peeped over the rim and its light and warmth delighted him .'You are great and shall be called Sun.'He laughed and was well pleased.
'That is enough now,'said Great Aunt Jane,'it is time for you to go home.'"

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