If you’re looking for some reading to snuggle up with (or enjoy in the sunshine, depending on what hemisphere you’re in), or perhaps a last minute Christmas present, can I humbly suggest my new book, Waking hours. It’s available in paperback and ebook format, with special discounts over Christmas. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. If you’ve previously read my blog you may have already had a sneak peek!

Here are the opening few lines, written during a snowy London January a few years back. More to follow over the new few days…

As the train murmured through the suburban dusk, gliding unassumingly past back gardens and starving foxes, Aidan McGuinness jolted awake. He was embarrassed to have fallen asleep in public. It made him feel weak and vulnerable. He checked the corners of his mouth for dribble and straightened himself in his seat, hoping no one had noticed.

As he eased himself up, he felt his boot catch something soft on the floor. He peered down and found not the dead rodent he’d feared it to be, but a glove. He reached down to retrieve it.

A middle-aged woman was standing by the doors. The possible owner. Aidan tensed as he considered calling after her, but she was pressing the exit button, so he decided to leave it. He relaxed as he watched her step out into the snowy evening, telling himself it probably wasn’t hers anyway.

The train was almost empty, travelling in the opposite direction to the main commuter flow. As it pulled away from the station, Aidan turned to gaze at the warmly lit kitchens and dining rooms that punctuated the darkness outside. He usually found these cubes of domesticity comforting, but this time struggled to see past his moody reflection.

He turned his attention to the glove, which he was holding with both hands. It was red, intricately knitted and had a bow around the wrist – a particularly feminine glove. Probably not very functional, but pretty. He slipped it on…

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

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