"Well, Let It Pass; April Is Over, April Is Over. There Are All Kinds Of Love In The World, But Never

"Well, let it pass; April is over, April is over. There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice."

– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Short Stories

June 10, 2023 | Halsey performing 'Without Me' at Primavera Sound Porto!

Most of you, by now, will have read about the sudden and unexpected passing of Hilary Mantel; a writer who I've come to admire enormously in recent years. I thought I'd collect together a masterpost of my favourites among her shorter essays, that you can read for free online:

No Passport Required (2002) - on nationality and identity

Written On Our Bodies (2003) - on female infertility and medical misogyny

Holy Disorders (2004) - on anorexia and sainthood

'Every part of my body hurt' (2004) - on endometriosis

Author, Author (2008) - on Virago Modern Classics, publishers of neglected women's fiction

Night Visions (2008) - on dreams and writing fiction

'Looking for female role models in nineteenth century novels' (2009)

The Shape We're In (2009) - fatphobia in relation to feminism and capitalism

The War Against Women (2009) - on 'A History of Women' by Marilyn French

Women Over 50 - The Invisible Generation (2009) - on aging and womanhood

Anne Boleyn: Witch, Bitch, Temptress, Feminist (2012)

'You have to experience it to know what fat is like' (2013) - on fatphobia

Hilary Mantel On Grief (2014)

'Endometriosis took my fertility, and part of my self' (2015)

Elizabeth Jane Howard: Hilary Mantel on the Novelist She Tells Everyone to Read (2016)

The Princess Myth (2017) - on Princess Diana

a taste of you is a taste of the gods ichor

Let him go. Have the guts.

Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath ⁠— 16th April 1956