sue orton | gathering threads – weaving

book reviews

July 3rd, 2019. Suffolk. Three women. On holiday. Wood. Coast. Perfect.
“Can you look at my back, I’ve got itching in the small on my back.”
“There are two small patches like rash. Probably nothing.”
Two days later.
“I’m feeling a bit rough. My body aches. I wonder if it’s related to that rash?”
The beginning. It took 18 months. My ecdysis. Shedding trauma.
So I’m looking into my life, untangling, to discover where the trauma, the cracking bleeding rash on my body was seated, was hiding. Where confidence and courage lay.

Gathering Threads weaves prose, poetry and text messages to create an intriguing tapestry that examines how trauma finds its way into, and out from the body. It dives into the past to reveal the impact of hiding our true identities and of family secrets. It is a love letter. To my allies, to the sea and to the loom on which I weave. Slowly I discover the intensity of my tumblings, through childhood, boarding school, family break up, marriage and lesbian denial. I realise too, it was only when I was loved and safe, I could fall apart and heal.

Gathering Threads has been self published.
It is not on online marketplaces.
The price is £12.00 + £4.00 = £16.00 for posting within the UK.