Dorothy's Dilemma

 

 

 Dear Reader,

There is going to be a small change to this blog each week as follows.  In 1982 I wrote a memoir about my life as a newly single woman living in the back streets of Oxford.  I was married  and had been living in a large manor  house in the New Forest with all the perks of wealth, a part-time cook, two dailies and a gardener.  I was both rich and spoilt and the change from there to a small street in East Oxford was quite drastic.

This memoir tells of my adventures, good and bad, over this time when I was forty two years old. I found the manuscript in the back of a cupboard just before Christmas this year and re-read it.  Although I say this myself I thought it was funny and well written and sent it to various literary agents.  Only two replied and both said although it was: "charming, insightful and well written" it was too short to be published.  So what to do?

I decided to have it printed privately and will put highlights of the story here.  If you then decide to read the complete book I can sent it to you or you will be able to get it on Amazon (I hope). 

Here is a little what I say in the Introduction:

 

When I made my getaway, in a somewhat frail state of 

health and mind, I faced not only the prospect of complete 

and unaccustomed solitude, but also, I had to learn about 

very basic tasks that up until then my husband had dealt with.

Living alone, though the prospect may be daunting, can 

be a state you learn to delight in. It needs self-discipline, 

imagination, a stock of resources and, if possible, help 

from a few friends. The process of adjustment is full of unseen 

hazards, mysteries, disappointments and rewards: but it is 

negotiable. 

 

I would like to think these small tales of my own journey 

through the maze might give some encouragement to 

others who are bent on setting forth in the hope of finding 

the answers too. 

 

So after much thought and agonizing I decided in 1982 that

 

I had to leave and start again on my own.  There had to be 

 

more to  life than this.   It was a very difficult decision

 

as I had little or no money but knew that we only have 

 

one life and mine had to be as good as I could make it.

 

 

And I left for Oxford.

                                                                                   *

Dorothy's Dilemma

Dorothy slowly rode the hill,
eating potted beef and sweet cake,
she glimpsed, growing in green moss,
three primroses in full bloom.

Should she pick them?
December primroses in a jar
adorning the kitchen table
was a temptation, a pretty picture.

She pondered long, then left them
to enjoy the fecund earth,
their natural home,
their rightful place.
Days later, she saw with joy, nestling in the moss,
her primroses, flourishing,
uninjured by cold or rain
or human hand.

                                                                                        *

With very best wishes, Patricia