Wenham Magna, Suffolk, 1633 “The devil is everywhere,” James Hopkins, the vicar of Wenham, tells his youngest son one morn, his Apostle spoons laid out on the table before him. Heirlooms of silver, each bears the image of a saint moulded into the handle, along with the associate symbol, orb, key or cup. “The worm, […]

There’s a family building a snowman outside a little wooden house. A mother, dad, two kids: perfect. They pat down his sides, laughing at the woolly hat on his head, and then they are gone, left behind us. It’s getting dark and I wonder that such young children are still playing outside, then remember it’s […]

i. Rumen We come because there is a war in the old country. We come because there is a drought that becomes a famine or because we woke up one day and suddenly our money was worthless, or because we have always practiced the wrong religion but recently, since the last election, our neighbors look […]

“You’ll be needing a spade.” Uncle Don indicates the black-iron pot by the door. It bristles with gardening tools the way other people have umbrella stands. Around it is a tumble of men’s shoes in a litter of crumbled-off mud. A far cry from the kitchen at home, white-tiled like a science lab, or a […]