…. She holds the soap in one hand on a rag, to prevent the warmth of her hand softening it. The toothpick is poised in the other. She thinks for a few moments, and then starts to scratch the surface of the soap with the toothpick. The wooden end is unstable but she is careful not to press too hard and it lasts until she is finished. Her writing is tiny and she has to work carefully, stopping frequently to blow away the tiny curls of soap that litter her work-surface like flakes of dandruff and ear-wax. If she were to make a mistake then she could only scratch it out, the surface cannot be used again. When she has finished, there are eight lines of writing on the soap……
by George Green
George was born in Dublin in 1956 and brought up in Tipperary, where he lived in a house built on an ancient burial mound. After university he embarked on a career in sport and leisure in the hope that it would not be too difficult and help him meet girls. Ten years later he realised his mistake, took an MA in Creative Writing, and began teaching.
His first novel, Hawk was published by Transworld in August 2003, is a take on The Tain, the Irish myth cycle and is a thrilling, timeless tale of heroism and friendship, of love and betrayal, of war and poetry. It is the story of Cuchullain, the Hound of Ulster. The follow-up, Hound, was published in 2005. This tells the story of a charioteer and hunter of animals for the Roman Games in the time of Tiberius and an offer he can't refuse that takes him into the forests of Germany and confrontation with Rome's legions.
