Rest Upon The Wind
by
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At first she could only see an assortment of musty and decaying swathes of fabric, possibly old curtains or material left over from dress making, but as her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed a box with a faded label advertising silk threads. The name of the manufacturer was still just legible on the lid. It had been tied with satin ribbon, now too old to tell the colour. Interested, she gently untied the ribbon, afraid that it would disintegrate as she handled it. It was still surprisingly strong. The box appeared to be full of very old photographs. She imagined that they must be of her own ancestors, and picked out one or two, charmed by the pictures of beautiful tight-waisted and high-necked dresses, and at the stiff formality of the group portraits. Under the photographs, and tied up separately, was a small bundle of letters. Fascinated, she opened the top one, anxious that it would crumble in her hands, and very carefully spread out the single sheet of paper that was inside.
The letter was brief, and was dated ‘March 31st.1915.’
‘My Dearest Emily,’ it said. ‘We sail for France tomorrow. It will be good to have a chance to get at the Hun at last. Don’t worry about me, my darling. Our training has been thorough, if short. Some of the men seem so young, though, and they have come from very many different walks of life. I don’t expect it will be easy for many of them. They still say that this war will be over in a matter of months. I pray that this will be so, and that we will be reunited very soon.’
The writer then went on to say how he could be reached through his regiment. He concluded: ‘I know I shall be sustained through all this by the precious memory of our last evening together. Think of me often, as I will you, and pray for us all. Your loving Alex.’
Sophie felt quite moved. She guessed that the letter could have been to one of her great grandmothers. She thought she remembered that one had been called Emily. She didn’t know who Alex was, and felt slightly intrusive reading a letter that was not meant for her. She decided to put the letter back in the envelope. As she went to do so, she noticed a small photograph inside. It appeared to have been cut from a larger picture, and was of a young woman, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, with her hair softly arranged, framing an intelligent and attractive face. Sophie could just make out the faded inscription on the back that read ‘To my dearest love, from Emily.’ Sophie wondered whether the writer had meant the picture for Alex, the writer of the letters, and why it was that she appeared not to have sent it to him. She found herself intrigued as to what had happened between them. The letter felt fragile in her hand. Without knowing why she did it, she held it against her cheek. The paper was almost soft, and had a strange smell that she could not quite identify. She wondered what it was. It smelled a bit like a combination of spices and other faintly exotic fragrances; something she hadn’t come across before.
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About the Book
Rest Upon The Wind is the story of two women who never met, but whose lives become inextricably linked. One is Emily, born into a comfortable, middle class late Victorian home, and the other is Sophie, Emily’s great granddaughter, who was born on the day Emily died. Both women have lost someone they loved deeply. In Emily’s case this was due to the events of the First World War, and, in Sophie’s case, to a tragic misunderstanding. The chance discovery, by Sophie, of on old photograph of her great grandmother, leads to a very unexpected change in her life. Can Sophie find happiness and fulfill the lost hopes of a figure from her past?
About the Author
Gill Twissell has always been fascinated by social history, and has also carried out considerable genealogical research into her own family. However, she, like many others, has also dreamed of writing a novel. A busy life as a mother and health visitor made this remain a dream until she took early retirement. Now she wonders how she ever had time to go to work! A chance find of a photograph of her grandmother, (featured on the front cover of this book), was the final inspiration for ‘Rest Upon The Wind’, although it is not her grandmother’s story, but a work of fiction. Gill lives near Woodbridge in Suffolk, with her husband, to whom she is indebted for his support and technical help.