5 January: Stella Gibbons Quotes

Stella Gibbons, born this date in 1902, was an English novelist and journalist, whose most famous book is Cold Comfort Farm.

1. Happiness can never hope to command so much interest as distress.
2. A straight nose is a great help if one wishes to look serious.
3. Here was an occasion, she thought, for indulging in that deliberate rudeness which only persons with habitually good manners have the right to commit.
4. Tomorrow we die; but at least we danced in silver shoes.
5. Curious how Love destroys every vestige of that politeness which the human race, in its years of evolution, has so painfully acquired.
6. Never confront an enemy at the end of a journey, unless it happens to be his journey.
7. What a pleasant life could be had in this world by a handsome, sensible old lady of good fortune, blessed with a sound constitution and a firm will.
8. She behaved like most of us do when in love; she never thought of her beloved as a human being at all, but only as an image upon which to drape dreams.
9. Green fingers was the country name for time, patience and love working together.
10. Whereas there still lingers some absurd prejudice against living on one's friends, no limits are set, either by society or by one's own conscience, to the amount one may impose upon one's relatives.

Golden Thread

Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

Fiveswood has a rich and intriguing history. Local legends speak of giants, angels, wolves, a local Robin Hood, but most of all, a knight in golden armour. Fiveswood's history also has a dark side - mysterious deaths blamed on the plague, a ghostly black panther, and a landslide which buried the smugglers' caves.

Terry buys an apartment in The Heights, a house which has been empty for decades, since the previous owner disappeared. Now he has finally been declared dead, developers have moved in and turned it into six flats. Terry has the odd feeling he has lived in this enigmatic house before. But that is not all. Since childhood, Terry has had recurring, disturbing dreams which have been increasing in frequency so that now, he has them almost every night. To his dismay, the people from his nightmares are his new neighbours.

Except, that is, for Eleanor Millbrook. She is refreshingly unfamiliar. After Terry saves her from a mysterious attacker, they become close. However, Terry's nightmares encroach more and more on his waking life, until they lead him to a devastating discovery about who he really is.

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Goodreads Review for Golden Thread:

This is a standalone book rather than one of the "super" series. Excellent characterization, a "keeps you guessing" plot, and some fairly deep philosophical issues ! Would recommend this to anyone, but especially recommended if you would like to see a completely new "take" on the people with powers / alternate futures / general oddness type story lines. Somebody make the film !