Hearing Eye

Two children’s tales, ‘The Gingerbread Boy’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel’, combine to create the central metaphor of the narrative poem, which follows the life of a runaway girl, from naivety through maturity and beyond.

From Cookie to Witch is an Old Story was written at a time in the author's life when her adolescent daughters were more and more away from home, travelling and/or at university. In psycho-babble, this is called ‘the empty nest syndrome’. It is, in any case, a time of transformation, the dying embers of useful parenthood from which a renewed sense of human purpose may, phoenix-like, arise.

“Frankly, you shouldn’t even try to resist this book...”

“… It’s beautifully economical for the momentous theme of motherhood and is told humorously, concretely, sophisticatedly and tellingly.”