‘Take This Century’ in Love in the Time of Covid: Chronicle of a Pandemic’

All my stories are personal, but this one is especially so. I wrote it for, and about, my mother and granddaughter, born almost 100 years apart. When I submitted it to New Zealand-based Love in the Time of Covid, on Hazel’s first birthday, I didn’t know that my mother Torla would have no more birthdays. When the story was accepted on 16th December, I didn’t know that later that day, Mum would announce to my brother that she was going to die. And I didn’t know that the story would go live on Christmas night, just after she left us.

Wow.

Love in the Time of Covid brings together stories and poetry for these times, with a focus on different aspects and experiences of love. It’s a project I’m very proud to have been part of.

Read ‘Take This Century’ here.