helen

@hejparry

writer of children's books, wrangler of cats, waster of time A Scrap of Moss & Magick, my MG debut, is out in autumn 2026 with @dfbstoryhouse.bsky.social British in Belgium she/her

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helen@hejparry· 21d

Camping in France! Here’s the morning view. Let’s pretend the coffee tasted good. While I was taking the picture, two swans flew overhead.

Photograph of two notebooks, a pen, a pencil case, a tiny cafetière and the world’s smallest but very pretty coffee cup on a table overlooking trees, a river. The bank on the other side is steep and wooded. It is blissfully quiet. You can’t see the quiet, take my word for it.

helen@hejparry· 27d

Every Wednesday (that I remember!), I will post a children’s book I’ve enjoyed. If you’ve read it too, or you want to share another book, join in! Eight Days of Luke, by Diana Wynne Jones. Cover illustration by Maggie Heslop. Alt text for why I like it. #ukkidlit #kidlituk

Old Puffin copy of Eight Days of Luke, by Diana Wynne Jones. The cover illustration is by Maggie Heslop.

Why I like it: did she ever write a book that wasn’t brilliant? & she writes children so well. This maybe prefigures Archer’s Goon to some extent but it stands for itself & is funny & true & a little sad too.

Love everything about it but there’s a bit at the end that sticks with me: David is returning to Luke & he knows who he is now & that he’s done terrible things & that he’ll go on to do terrible things but ‘David was simply very glad to see him again’ because after all, life & people are complex & not always right or rational.

helen@hejparry· Jul 5

This summer I’m going to read Malory’s Arthurian works! Who’s with me? (Nobody. I know, I know.) (But I will post about it here to keep me from slacking.)

Attempt at a cool photo of my copy of Malory’s Works, a hardback green book, with a black-and-white picture of a knight on horseback on the cover. I am holding it beside a handsome red rose and a rose leaf that some small creature has enthusiastically and repeatedly chomped.

helen@hejparry· Jun 29

Have taught my last lesson until September, my paperwork is done & the heat has gone. Time to sit ostentatiously being a writer in the garden!

Photograph looking across our vegetable garden to the local corvid hangout on our neighbour’s tree.

Photograph of a black pen lying across the first page of my first draft, or ‘chaos draft’ as you van see I have named it. This is a slight cheat as I am actually on chapter 8.

helen@hejparry· Jun 27

Survived the heatwave by moving as little as possible & reading old thrillers. A Suggestion of Death by Marianne Wesson is a legal thriller from 1999 & a good one. Cinda Hayes agrees to represent a teenager who remembers a traumatic incident involving her father. But what is it & did it happen?

My hand holding a paperback copy of A Suggestion of Death by Marianne Wesson in front of the green leaves of the climber akiba quinata. The cover shows the face of a young woman under water, her eyes closed.

helen@hejparry· Jun 22

My copy is illustrated & facing page 30 is this illustration by Albert Morrow. Mr Vanstone doesn’t die (in a train crash) until p. 95 so thanks for the spoiler, Albert Morrow! (Also Mrs Vanstone is about six months pregnant but is looking surprisingly trim.)

Photograph showing an open book with text on the left age and a black and white illustration on the right. The illustration shows a gentleman on the left and two ladies in the right, in late Victorian clothes. One of the ladies is bending over and has dropped her book. The caption is: Mrs Vanstone hears of her husband’s death.

helen@hejparry· Jun 22

Good afternoon! I’m reading No Name by Wilkie Collins but carefully because the book is falling apart.

Battered copy of a dark red, hardish cover book with bookmark peeping out.

helen@hejparry· Jun 22

Good morning! Is there anyone on Bluesky who knows something about #bookbinding ? The novel I am reading is falling apart along one of the seams at the spine. What’s the best way to repair it? The book is old but not valuable; however, it’s in good nick apart from this one thing.

Photograph of my hand holding an elderly copy of No Name by Willie Collins spine up. The cover of the spine has detached along the left hand side. The book is dull red, small, with gold decorative embossing.

helen@hejparry· Jun 20

When I took this photograph in my garden I thought it was baroque, the poppies fleeing some unknown biblical horror off right. But maybe I had just spent too long in the heat.

Photograph of a tangle of brambles, red and pink poppies, iris leaves like knives, tiny pale wild pansies, yes some weeds.

helen@hejparry· Jun 11

You know it’s June when your preferred method of filing (throwing everything on the floor) traps you inside your study. Send help before I perish for lack of coffee! #SlatternlyTeacherSky

A photograph of the floor by my desk, piled high with books, papers, a roll of wrapping paper. No, you don’t want to see the desk itself…

helen@hejparry· Jun 8

I am reading Audition, by Katie Kitamura. I am just past halfway & everything has changed! It’s not the book I thought I was reading! What’s going on? (in a good way)

Paperback copy of Audition by Katie Kitamura posing on a cushion. The book’s cover is black and the title and author’s name are multi-coloured. The cushion cover is yellowy green with a pattern of white seedheads.

helen@hejparry· Jun 7

Poppies! Brightness on a dull day.

A white-ish vase holding eight poppies in shades of res. The poppies are frilly and mop-headed. The vase is standing on an outdoor table with a yellow flowery tablecloth.

In the background are some green myrtle bushes and the thing for measuring rainfall which my husband insists on having somewhere prominent so that he can easily see it from inside and outside the house, in space too probably.

helen@hejparry· Jun 5

I bought Maggie Blue & the Dark World by Anna Goodall purely because of Sandra Diekmann's cover & I was not disappointed!

The front cover of Maggie Blue and the Dar World by Anna Goodall. The illustration shows a giant tabby cat, with a small, blonde-haired girl sitting between his ears. The cat is moving downwards through a portal. In the upper half of the cover, there is a town; in the lower part a night sky and a castle.

helen@hejparry· May 27

On a hot day, here is a shady corner of my garden. As in, sheltered from the sun, not plants up to no good.

Plants seem from above including violets, forget-me-nots, Canterbury bells, foxglove and the purply leaves of a heuchera.

helen@hejparry· May 21

Every Wednesday (that I remember!) (OK, it's Thursday, let's not nitpick), I will post a children’s book I’ve enjoyed. If you’ve read it too, or you want to share another book, join in! The Night I Borrowed Time, by Iqbal Hussain. Alt text for why I like it. #ukkidlit #kidlituk

The photo shows my hand holding a copy of The Night I Borrowed Time by Iqbal Hussain. The illustration is of a silhouetted boy falling through a pink-and-blue spiral in a starry night sky, with images from the story caught up in it.

As a seventh son, eleven-year-old Zubair discovers that he has inherited the ability to time travel. Can he use his new-found powers to repair his parents’ marriage? He must be careful, as the smallest change in the past can have a profound effect on the present-day.

Why I loved it: great depiction of the push & pull of family life; a lovely cast of characters; Zubair himself, caught between his six older brothers and his bossy friend Fozia, & navigating his adventures with deadpan humour & a great heart.

As for the end, well, it is so exciting I could not turn the pages fast enough.

helen@hejparry· May 16

Maybe not

helen@hejparry· May 16

Our iris overlords have arrived. Hoping they are benign.

Photograph of dusky pink irises, originally sold to us as bronze, in a garden against a blue sky. They are plotting.

helen@hejparry· May 14

Just back from Gheelamania, a spectacular 3-hour musical put on by the community. Was it a bit cheesy? Yes! Was there a tear in my eye at the end? Of course! Even an old git like me cannot withstand that level of charm, talent & big heartedness.

Photograph of the programme from the show ‘Lelie van het Licht’, the fifth production of Gheelmania. The illustration in the cover shows the silhouettes of a girl and a boy who is holding a camera; above them is a pendant in a necklace; the pendant has a picture of a lily on it and light shines from it. My yellow wristband lies on top of it.

Gheelamania occurs every five years along as part of the festivities in Geel to celebrate St Dimpna. The show is written, produced and staged by Geelenaars; the actors are mainly local, the dancers are from the local school. Plenty of local pride and enthusiasm!

helen@hejparry· May 4

Yesterday I went to see the ommegang of St Dimpna in Geel. This happens only once every five years. Approx half the town’s population took part, the other half watched, plenty of cheering & heckling as the floats & bands went by. A series of tiny plays, like a mediaeval mystery cycle. Plus flags!

This is perhaps the only decent photograph I managed to take. It’s the float showing the martyrdom of St Dimpna, passing along a street of shops under a rainy sky. On the float is a giant grown and sword. St Dimpna, in a blue dress and red cloak, kneels at the front. Further back stands St Gerebernus, in monkish brown. Both are about to be beheaded by the king, Dimpna’s father, dressed all in black and holding a sword. Beside the float stand a few bedraggled spectators. We were not blessed with good weather, in fact many of the participants were rather charmingly wearing plastic rain capes over their costumes or instruments.

helen@hejparry· May 1

VERY EXCITING NEWS - for me anyway! This is the bound proof copy of A Scrap of Moss & Magick! By me! Published by David Fickling Books. I’ve been gloating over it! The gorgeous illustrations are by Melissa Castrillon who did the cover art & chapter heads. They are amazing too. #ukkidlit #kidlituk

My hand holding a bound proof copy of A Scrap of Moss and Magick by - me! The title is inside a full moon and there is a great house and running horse beneath it. Ferny fronds, mushrooms and a magpie also decorate the book. And it’s a splendid shade of purple.

helen@hejparry· May 1

The cover is so pretty! #ukkidlit #kidlituk

Screenshot showing the cover of When the Birds Wake Up by Jessica Mary Ellis, illustrated by Sophie Burrows. The illustration shows a girl sitting on the grass playing with a scruffy dog; around them are flying little white birds.

helen@hejparry· Apr 27

I am pondering what next, having just finished Fair Play by Louise Hegarty: an intriguing novel which explores how Abigail deals with grief at her brother’s death via a sort of Golden Age detective story nested within it.

A paperback copy of Fair Play by Louise Hegarty. The front cover shows what the back of a king on a playing card might look like, except that he is crossing his fingers behind that back.

helen@hejparry· Apr 22

Every Wednesday (that I remember!), I will post a children’s book I’ve enjoyed. If you’ve read it too, or you want to share another book, join in! Dracula & Daughters, by Emma Carroll. Alt text for why I like it. #ukkidlit #kidlituk

My hand holding a copy of Dracula and Daughters by Emma Carroll. The illustration shows three red-haired girls running: one wears a yellow dress and white apron, one wears a smart, long purple dress and the girl at the front wears black trousers and jacket and is lifting her hat. Behind them, grey gothic buildings; above them, a murder of crows.

I like this book because not only does it have a clever central idea - that you can treat vampires rather than just kill them - but also because it is just so very well paced and constructed. Carroll also pulls off a first-person present-tense narration while also managing to construct good, believable characters. And it’s fun! But with a very dark background…

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

Morning! I have just finished Hagstone by Sinead Gleeson, about an artist who is invited to create a work for an isolated female community. Great writing, especially about art. In total contrast have started Smart-Aleck Kill, four short stories by Raymond Chandler.

Photograph of Hagstone, by Sinead Gleeson. The cover illustration is a photograph of a woman’s face, pale with a dark bob and red lipstick. Her hand is held up just below her right eye and eye and hand are moving and stretched and disturbing.

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

PS! Something very strange was that there were birds but almost no insects in the Keukenhof. I think between is we spotted three bees in three or more hours.

Tulips! Red, pink, white, purple, yellow! Glorious!

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

To end: one of the ladies on the barrel organ was NOT having a happy time…

Close up of two figures from a barrel organ, striking bells. The expression of the standing figure on the left, who is wearing a pink blouse and blue skirt, is obscured by her bell. The seated figure on the left, in green blouse, brown skirt and gold ankle boots, is holding her bell and seething. She can’t wait to give you a piece of her mind.

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

& at the end there was the annual flower parade. But I have no good pictures of that.

Looking down on pink tulips and blue wood anemones and white grape hyacinth.

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

After we had enjoyed the garden, we hired bikes and cycled round the tulip fields. The great slabs of vibrant colour were like nothing else I have seen. You cannot capture them in photographs.

View from the Keukenhof across a dijk to tulip fields, stripes of yellow, orange, pink, white, like a brilliant sunset lying on the ground.

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

The place was packed. It was peak tulip moment, I think. About 20 per cent of the visitors were middle-aged British women; another 30 per cent were beautiful young ladies posing among the flowers for their Instagram accounts.

helen@hejparry· Apr 20

It was quite overwhelming.