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Book Review: She Rises by Kate Worsley

*Contains no spoilers.

She Rises is an erotic, sea-faring adventure by debut novelist Kate Worsley. Under the tutelage of mentor and maven of the historical novel Sarah Waters, Kate Worsley has created a beautifully sculpted jewel of a novel set in an Essex fishing village in 1740.

A word to the wise, the book is very raunchy and contains a lot of sex and violence. If that is not a deterrent to you (and is in fact an attraction) then dive right in, you will love it!

Protagonist young dairymaid Louise Fletcher leaves the sleepy existence on a dairy farm for the buzzing and thriving naval part of Harwich.

She joins the service of a wealthy sea captain’s house as a housemaid to the captain’s daughter Rebecca Handley. A beautiful but rough diamond, Rebecca and Louise grow closer as mistress and maid. Something deepens between them and opens Louise up ‘like treasure in a chest’.

Running in parallel to Louise’s narrative we hear from Luke, a young boy pressganged into ‘His Majesty’s damned whore-son Navy’.

He is a delicate, pale petal compared to the sea-hardened and gristled tars aboard the ship. Luke learns about the hardships of life at sea and how to cultivate the right kind of cunning to survive among bigger and stronger men.

The sea in this novel is a supremely powerful mistress. She Rises sings to you like water kelpies or selkies in dulcet and dangerously hypnotising tones, calling to you and lulling you into a rolling, shifting embraces. Pure magic.

Although this book contains a lot of the typical ‘yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum’ kinds of narrative tropes you would find in a sea-faring historical novel. This novel is anything but typical. The language is inventive, exhilarating and vivid. The plot goes along at a cracking pace. Both Luke and Louise are believable characters and you feel a palpable sense of compassion for them, and their struggles in a dog-eat-dog world.

The evocative erotic scenes are unexpected but also enjoyable. This is not your typical sea-faring novel but I can’t tell you more without give away too much.

There are dramatic twists and unexpected U-turns in the plot that will leave you gasping.

It has much in common with Jeanette Winterson’s novels, but Kate Worsley’s writing in a far more evocative, exciting and interesting way compared to Jeanette Winterson, who I find to be supremely overrated.

The sea in this novel is a supremely powerful mistress. She Rises sings to you like water kelpies or selkies in dulcet and dangerously hypnotising tones, calling to you and lulling you into a rolling, shifting embraces. Pure magic.

Red flags: extreme narcissism and self-absorption

What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?

I should preface this by saying, every single one of us has the tendency to experience the idea that the world encircles us in ever-growing concentric orbits. That we are the central axis of the world, at some stages of our lives.

When I was young I was like that. I lacked anyone instructing me otherwise and instead squirreled away my own take on life in diaries, as though I was the only one who ever existed. It could have also been part of being neurodivergent as well. Being a teenager and being precocious is like that.

I can look back lovingly and with affection at the girl I was then. Teenagers think they know everything already and understand the entire playbook of human experience.

They are ferociously self-righteous and passionate, a risk to the world, a risk to themselves. They need a lot of guidance and their little emerging lives need nurturing.

Then once you grow a few cm more within a few months, go the next grade up in school, you realise just how little you used to know six months or even two weeks ago. How crazily naive you were just a little while ago.

After this, you get older and learn more about just how complex the world is, you realise that you are not the centre of the world and that nobody owes you anything in life.

This can be a tough lesson to learn, but it’s an important one in growing up and becoming an adult. That quite frankly nobody gives a toss about you.

This is both a lonely and scary realisation and a liberating ad empowering one. As you can then go about creating the life you want and find the things in life that truly make you happy. Regardless and in spite of the feelings and notions of others.

Unfortunately, there are many adults wandering around (who I’m sure many of you may know intimately) who skipped that big lesson in life.

These people – let’s call them the chosen ones labour under the seriously misguided idea that they are the central spoke in the wheel of life. They are the fiery, shining zenith of intelligence and that they are not better known by everyone is an immense miscarriage of justice. A great travesty indeed!

The only real and genuine insights in this world come from them. The moment they open their mouths, the entire world should be struck dumb wih awe at everything they have to say. If people dare to speak or interrupt them, expect to be given a chilling death stare.

These people might be your boss, a work colleague, a parent or even God forbid they could even be your partner. These people like to run households, businesses and even whole countries like transactional chess games where the winner (always them) takes all and others are left to pick up the emotional pieces.

They are often intelligent, but thankfully not as intelligent as they think they are. The observant and emotionally mature person can generally see the chess game in progress and see the mask slipping occasionally. People who are emotionally intelligent are like chalk and cheese to people like that. In general, the narcissist will feel unmasked and threatened while around them.

One thing to know is that a person like this can’t easily change and can’t be reasoned with. The only way is through their own realisation of their mistakes and through honest attempts at understanding themselves. However, given that by nature they can never admit any fault or mistake they have ever made, the chances for them to evolve are extremely slim. Best to avoid these kinds of people in your life or limit contact as much as possible.

Warning signs

1. Dominates all conversations speaking about themselves.

2. Does not show concern for you, or if showing concern it is in a superficial throw away question that does not sound genuine.

3. Does not offer support or help and does not seem sympathetic if something terrible happens to you.

4. If you ask them about why they do certain things or are selfish, this is met with a gaslighting response of being told to not act crazy or be overly sensitive.

5. Will actively and regularly manipulate situations in order to get their own way.

6. Will actively withhold information from you if it suits their agenda.

7. Will treat every interaction like a transaction.

8. Will either throw a tantrum like a spoiled child or become extremely angry if ever called out on their behaviour.

This all sounds extremely negative, I know. Here’s a beautiful corollary.

There are people out there who genuinely care and who will match your natural empathy and emotional sensitivity with beautiful empathy and sensitivity of their own. Who will give as much back to you as you give to them. Hold onto these people with both hands and keep them safe in your heart. Celebrate and treasure them because they are rare. They are the key to a loving life and a life full of love.

Comforting Thought: This being human is a guest house

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

A roadtrip through the Bay of Plenty and Eastern Cape of the North Island

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Jalaluddin Rumi

Every Picture Tells A Story: Stanley Kubrik's mysterious showgirl series

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

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Comforting Thought: Emotional Stories Unlock Science

“You can do the best science in the world but unless emotion is involved it’s not really very relevant. Conservation is based on emotion. It comes from the heart and one should never forget that.”

Dr. George Schaller, one of the world’s most respected biologists.

I think this is particularly true when trying to communicate the plight of endangered animals and plants. When we communicate their emotional story visually, we pierce through the cynicism and distracted busyness of people’s lives and spur them into action.

A bear takes a bath in the river massaging his own feet

Artists & Writers in Their Own Words: Evaldas Azbukauskas AKA Giriu Dvasios bear in forest

Omnia tempus habent: a delightful medieval rhyming calendar | Abril ~ And here I here the fowles singe.

Kahu - Harrier Hawk- Birds, Mana and Maori Culture

Falcon - kārearea - Birds, Mana and Maori Culture

Tilly was only released from rehabilitation off Cairns in November.(Supplied: Christian Miller)

Kingfisher - Birds, Mana and Maori Culture

Change-Makers in Their Own Words: Cheche Winnie elephant

Brown Kiwi - Birds, Mana and Maori Culture

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Comforting Thought: We are all made of stars

Every element in the universe is composed of parts of a cataclysmic explosion of supernovae. This encompasses the iron found inside of the hemoglobin of our blood, the primary element of supernovae. That’s what we all are. The instant of star death.

Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone

Welcome to Starlink Express brought to you by Elon Musk

Eclipse Hunting For Star-gazing Dreamers

A 3D visualisation of all the space junk and satellites out there in the stratosphere night wonder inspiration

“Do not miss me, because I will always be with you. In every drop of rain that touches your tongue, in every breath of air you inhale. In the tips of the leaves that you brush with your fingertips as you pass by. I will be there, in every moment. I am not gone, I am only altered, from this state of matter to another. For a moment, for too brief a moment, I was the man that loved you, but now that I am changed, I am the air, the moon, the stars. For we are all made of stars, my beloved.

“You and I, and all of life, we were all born out of the death of a star, millions of billions of years ago. A star that lived long and then, before its death, burned at its brightest, its fiercest – an enflaming supernova. But when it died, it did not cease to exist; instead everything it was made of became part of the universe once again, and everything that is part of the universe will once more become part of us.

“So do not miss me, because I do not die; I transform – into the wind in the tops of the trees, the wave on the ocean, the pebbles under your foot, the dust on your bookshelves, the midnight sky.

Wherever you look, I will be there.”
― Rowan Coleman, We Are All Made of Stars

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Via WikiVictorian on Mastodon

10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #134

A journey into Solarpunk and Cyberpunk Surrealism with Nick Pederson

Rich people foods that taste bad, letters to a multispecies kin, people vultures, a 33 year old fruit bat, ice-skating, the world’s most horny countries and other esoteric topics, it’s edition #134 #ContentCatnip #Interesting

Stop normalising the 9-5 grind and start normalising whatever the hell this is…

Ask Reddit: Which ‘Rich People Foods’ aren’t even that good?

Edible gold leaf: is inert, indigestible, and has no taste or smell. It has no nutritional value and can’t improve the taste of any dish.

Abalone: It’s either rubbery and tough or like a gigantic phlegm coughed up onto a plate.

Dragonfruit: A hyped up health food that looks amazing but tastes like absolutely nothing – or just water.

Excessively aged cognac, champagne or whisky: extremely expensive but pretty overrated, you can get really nice tasting ones for far cheaper.

Beautiful and sad letters to our multispecies kin

Encounters with beings of the finned, feathered and furry kind that breach the gap and find urgently needed points of connectivity.

“Is not impermanence the very fragrance of our days?” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

33 year old fruit bat goes on daily ‘flights’ to keep him active

33-year-old fruit bat with arthritis goes on morning ‘flights’ to keep him active
byu/Green____cat ininterestingasfuck

People Vultures by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Australian band King Gizz are like the marmite of bands that totally confuse some people and totally delight others – I am firmly in the delighted category! They are musical chameleons who shift genres within and between albums: prog rock, punk, jazz, ambient, hiphop, thrash metal.

Here they are here doing some ultra trippy psychadelic rock. The video features the band playing from within a gigantic papier mache vulture and fending off the advances of Power Rangers type intruders. The comments section is really funny as well. Either you will feel curious by this music or absolutely hate it…I am expecting both eventualities.

A Water Baby (1895) by Herbert James Draper

A Water Baby by Herbert James Draper blends fantasy themes along with a magical interplay of light, shadow, colour and iridescence. There is a dreamlike wonder to the story of the woman discovering the baby in the oyster shell.

Ice-skating by night in Vienna, 1910

Mythical beasts of Germany

Via Adrian Black on Twitter

“I was an ordinary person who studied hard – there are no miracle people”

“I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There are no miracle people.” – Richard Feynman, Fun to Imagine (1983)

“I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There are no miracle people.”

– Richard Feynman, Fun to Imagine (1983) pic.twitter.com/GGdQpwRoAP
— Physics In History (@PhysInHistory) March 4, 2024

Steps for Walking Meditation in the Plum Village tradition

For Thich Nhat Hanh, the late Vietnamese monk who popularised mindfulness in the West, walking was not simply a way to get from one place to another, or an activity to be reserved for a perfect forest path. It could be a profound contemplative practice putting people in touch with their breath, their bodies, the Earth – and an awareness of what he called “interbeing.” Here are the steps of walking meditation as it is done in the Plum Village tradition:

Nikko Kaido by Hasui Kawase - forest nature spiritual hope love

1) Take a moment to breathe and center your body in the space you are about to walk. At Plum Village practice centers, monks and nuns lead participants in singing a few mindfulness songs before starting. In “We’re All Moving,” for example, the group sings, “We’re all moving on a journey to nowhere, taking it easy, taking it slow. No more worries, no need to hurry, nothing to carry, let it all go.”

2) While walking, be mindful of your breath and your footsteps. Walk in a slow, relaxed way, preferably with a light smile. Think about the miracle of being alive and being able to step on Mother Earth, repeating these phrases: “Breathing in, I know Mother Earth is in me. Breathing out, I know I am in Mother Earth.”

3) Take one breath per step, focusing on your foot touching the Earth. You can also notice how many steps you take while breathing in and then breathing out, naturally. The point is to find a connection between your breathing and your steps.

Instead of sitting meditation, Thich Nhat Hanh’s practices emphasize adding mindfulness to daily life anytime, anywhere. By incorporating walking meditation into a daily or weekly schedule, every step can be part of a deeper practice of interbeing.

Via The Conversation

A guide to the countries that are the most promiscuous in the world

Fascinating stuff! who would have thought that Australia would be the most horny country in the world? Via Cool Guides on Reddit

A journey into Solarpunk and Cyberpunk Surrealism with Nick Pederson

What happens when humans are no longer around and animals have taken over? Nick Pedersen’s art attempts to answer this provocative question! He is an award-winning photographer and digital artist from Salt Lake City, Utah. His art often depicting post-apocalyptic scenes with artful collage techniques.

His work has been featured in Vogue, Juxtapoz, and Hi-Fructose and he has collaborated with brands like Adobe and Microsoft to showcase the world’s beauty amidst themes of decay and destruction. Via Inspiration Grid on Mastodon.

“No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.” ~ Seneca

Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!

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Comforting Thought: The appetites of the soul by Aldous Huxley

Entrance to the Night by Michiel Schrijver Michiel Schrijver dark comforting things

Two great appetites of the soul – the urge to independence and self-determination and the urge to self-transcendence – were fused with, and interpreted in the light of, a third – the urge to worship.
~ Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception and Heaven & Hell

Celestial ceilings and soaring skies in Poland

The lost art and history documentaries of YouTube http://wp.me/p41CQf-Iz7

Another cathedral ceiling, this time in Wroclaw. Copyright Content Catnip 2016 https://wp.me/p41CQf-IE8

A cathedral roof and autumnal trees in Prague. Copyright Content Catnip 2009

Ancient word of the day: Schäfchenwolken

We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone.

Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain.

By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude.

Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies—all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable.

We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves.

From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.
~ Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception and Heaven & Hell

Entrance to the Night by Michiel Schrijver Michiel Schrijver — Entrance to the Night by Michiel Schrijver

Tracey Emin. About Neon Art and Loneliness http://wp.me/p41CQf-aU

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Travel: The loneliest buildings in the world

I love secluded and lonely places where there’s nobody around for miles. That’s why the Highlands and Islands hold such appeal to me and so here’s a couple of lonely places may make you feel in turns melancholy or yearning for a place where nobody can disturb you.

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Book Review: Only The Moon Understands The Beauty Of Love by Thomas Slatin

Publisher: Self Published

Review in one word: Transmutation

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

“Only The Moon Understands The Beauty Of Love” by Thomas Slatin is a touching and thoroughly beautiful memoir that intricately blends personal anecdotes, reflections, and poetic prose. The book delves into the author’s life journey. It’s marked by moments of joy, sorrow, reflection, memory and profound introspection. I was really honoured to be asked to read this by my friend Thomas and I hope she will excuse how long the review took.

Throughout “Only The Moon Understands The Beauty Of Love,” Thomas intricately weaves together personal anecdotes, reflections, and poetic prose that offers readers a profound exploration of life’s complexities.

Slatin’s journey from childhood to adulthood is marked by moments of joy, sorrow, and poignant realisation. Her story is a testament to her immense resilience and strength required to navigate through life’s challenges, of which she is well acquainted. There are threads of strength, resilience and beauty and the healing effects of love and connection. There’s also themes of unrequited love, missed opportunities, and the passage of time throughout the memoir. Thomas’s story encourages readers to reflect on their own tough and triumphant experiences and the transient nature of existence.

Thomas’s reflections on unfulfilled dreams and the beauty of “almost” moments resonate deeply, reminding us that every experience, no matter how fleeting, still holds significance.

As Thomas recounts her experiences of feeling like a misfit, embracing individuality, and striving for self-acceptance, readers are invited to find strength and beauty in owning their own individuality and uniqueness.

Her candid discussions about the pressures of living up to others’ expectations, the dangers of ego and fame, and the importance of staying true to oneself provide valuable insights for anyone undergoing personal challenges.

The memoir’s structure alternates between narrative and poetic segments. This makes for flowing and rich storytelling. Her ability to transform everyday occurrences into profound reflections is particularly enjoyable and offers a nice armchair journey into the memories of her life.

Ultimately, Only The Moon Understands The Beauty Of Love serves as a poignant reminder of the power of love, friendship, personal growth, resilience, and the ongoing quest for meaning.

Her introspective approach and the rich tapestry of emotions and insights that are conveyed make this a rich, relatable and inspiring read. Reflections on the importance of letting go, seizing the moment, and embracing life’s uncertainties are universally applicable, encouraging readers to find beauty and purpose in their own journeys.

This memoir is not only a personal testament to Slatin’s growth and discoveries but also a source of inspiration for anyone facing changes and seeking to navigate the complexities of life with grace and authenticity.

Only The Moon Understands The Beauty Of Love is a well-crafted memoir that offers a unique perspective on life’s complexities. I found it very enjoyable and I hope you will too.

You can buy a copy of this wonderful memoir through Barnes and Noble and please subscribe to her website, where she has an ongoing blog series of fascinating writerly miscellania as well.

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