Crossword

Suppliers of both new and pre-loved vinyl, official t-shirts, merchandise and memorabilia. Come visit and “Try before you buy”. The Beat & Track, The Old Shambles, South Street, Sherborne, DT9 3LN 07730 356719

thebeatandtrack@icloud.com www.thebeatandtrack.co.uk

07871 818 741

robin@hitopdesign.com

W: hitop.design

Hi I’m Robin. I’m a friendly, local, professional designer and am here to help you with your next design project. That could be: Newsletters, menus, branding, posters, websites and much more. Get in touch now to get your next design project off the ground.

MAY SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Utters repeatedly (8) 5. Mineral powder (4) 9. Extravagant meal (5) 10. Stir up trouble (7) 11. Brother's children (7) 12. Loud resonant noise (5) 13. Special rewards (6) 14. Secure a boat (6) 17. Indifferent to emotions (5) 19. Stupid (7) 20. Make damp (7) 21. Urge into action (5) 22. Opposite of short (4) 23. Cornerstone (8) DOWN 1. Extremely small (13) 2. Something showing a general rule (7) 3. Establish as genuine (12) 4. Exude (6) 6. Sporting stadium (5) 7. Unconditionally (13) 8. Prerequisite (12) 15. Active part of a fire (7) 16. Yellowish-brown pigment (6) 18. The Hunter (constellation) (5)

Hester Greenstock, Sherborne Literary Society

The Year of Miracles: Recipes About Love + Grief + Growing Things by Ella Risbridger

(Bloomsbury Publishing) £22 (hardcover) Sherborne Times reader offer price of £20 from Winstone’s Books

You do not usually read cookbooks from cover to cover, and recipes are not usually prefaced with the circumstances which led to them being cooked in the first place, but this is how it is here. Ella Risbridger is an experienced writer and journalist living in London and the context for each of the recipes is allimportant because it traces her state of mind as she navigates the year of Covid and the ongoing grief which she has experienced since the death of her partner in 2018. It is in no way a sad book; it is a book about living, eating and growing things, surrounded by her wonderful group of friends. As she says at the end of the book, ‘This has looked like a story about grief, but really it’s been a story about change. Grief transforms you, as cooking transforms, as writing transforms, as reading transforms. As love transforms.’ For someone who has had to cope with personal loss at an early age, she is fortunate to be so articulate and open in her writing and to have such a network of friends. She reflects on the fact that when someone is dying you think a lot about miracles, the surprisingly good things that do happen in an otherwise bleak existence.

The Year of Miracles traces the month-by-month development of 2020, evoking the atmosphere of each month in the light of the weather and of Covid, and inserting recipes which suit either the mood, the produce available, or both. One moment she is describing the bleakness of the pigeons in January, the next the looming catastrophe that is Covid. But this is all with a light touch and with the help of delightful pen-and-wash illustrations. Recipes from far and near are cooked in a laidback way with ingredients from many parts of the world. It is very readable, unthreatening, often moving – and fun. There are set-piece pies and puddings, and comfort food in the shape of fish pie and chocolate brownies. There are plenty of snacks; some require exotic ingredients which you might have heard of, like burrata cheese, or you can make something strange and new, like zhong (which turns out to be a Yemeni relish). There are useful culinary discoveries to be made as you read the narrative. What can you do with surplus egg whites other than make meringues? You can make ‘friands’.

Ella Risbridger’s first book, Midnight Chicken, received much critical acclaim for both its stream-ofconsciousness style and her love of cooking. The Year of Miracles takes us a stage further. She continues to come to terms with her grief and to acknowledge the importance of food and friends – and we can all relate to her allusions to Covid. Her philosophy of life is simple: ‘it’s the moment that matters, and life – maybe always – is just a series of moments worth living for. A series of moments and a series of miracles.’

sherborneliterarysociety.com

Celebrating 10 Years as Sherborne’s Independent Bookseller 2012-2022 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128

A Talk and Signing with Polly Morland

Thursday 30th June, 6.30pm for 7pm start