on 'One of These Fine Days' by Myfanwy Thomas

From Edward to Helen to Myfanwy a natural prose style runs in the Thomas family. Having already edited the last of Helen's memoirs and letters (Time and Again, Carcanet), Myfanwy Thomas now shows 'how much hereafter' she herself remembers, and not only 'Of garden rows, and ancient damson trees. . .'.The following characteristically vivid and economical passage, with Edward-like irony, in part recalls something that didn't happen: 'My father would say I had two left hands, and called me "scrammy-handed". My short-sightedness was first noticed on the day when he called us into the garden to see a hoopoe sitting on the fence with its crest spread. My screwed-up eyes and tears of frustration at being unable to share the excitement made my parents realise that all I could see was a fuzzy blob. So I was taken to an oculist in Portsmouth; small wire-rimmed spectacles soon opened up a new world for me. But although I have worn glasses all my life and with their help can see perfectly well, I am clumsy and still have two left hands. And I have never seen a hoopoe.'

Even if Myfanwy, taking after her mother, never attained 'A clear eye, as good as mine', One of These Fine Days abounds in fine sensuous recall, such as the taste of 'locust beans': 'The first one eaten was very sweet, a little like the flavour of dates, but hard and dry to chew; and by the third the sweetness was ...