A Painting for a Blind Man

The stories in this book are subtle and suggestive and often hint at more than is stated - but they contain some strong and interesting characters and unusual situations. The first piece, A Painting for a Blind Man, is the longest, and perhaps the most complex. Olivia, an artist living Greece, paints for a blind man, Paul, who is visiting her. She tries to imagine what colours, scents, and shapes might mean to him and how she can portray them for him - how do you paint the sound of wind in pine trees, of sand sliding at the shoreline, or of cicadas? she wonders. The connection between vision, feeling, thought, and expression is very interestingly explored here. And as Paul describes his sensations and experiences, Olivia works out how to portray them: Swimming in the bay she painted as luscious circles, rippling out She felt the water on her skin when she painted it, and shivered. They become closer, their relationship begins to change, with unexpected results for both of them. Two stories concern people and situations that may not be so unfamiliar to us: Daughters of the Revolution portrays the difficult, untidy middle-age of a former female firebrand, her youthful idealism diluted, lost, or forgotten as family problems take their toll widowhood, a difficult teenage daughter, grown-up sons with new lives and new wives she does not understand and who do not share their mother s ideals. Now Jenni the revolutionary, a woman of soft edges and heart and steely courage, was collapsing inwardly like one of those balloons that shrink over time to a shrivelled puff of skin Multi-Storey describes a nightmare situation in a car park, probably familiar to many readers. The last piece, Quoth the Raven Nevermore , portrays perhaps the most extreme character dominatrix Mercedes, and her latest pathetic customer (victim?). But Mercedes has a new, secret sorrow, which is to change her life. When ice melts, water forms, tears flow, rivers run. Who can say when that time is in the human heart?