But I loved the author for including her. Like Paul, the little black boy who appeared later on, Amarjit’s presence was functional – merely demonstrating we exist – and this was obvious to me. In Real Life, the inner worlds of those children were vastly different to the page. The details of Amarjit – the glossy hair restrained in her plait, the books in her arms – were authentic, and yet the interaction between the two girls felt contrived. I found the picture book On the Way Home by Jill Murphy riveting, mostly for the Indian girl whom Claire, the protagonist, bumped into. It was the worst book I’d ever read and I never wanted to read anything like it again. The stories were so predictable, I was stunned the writer had thought I wouldn’t notice. There was no surprise, no wonder nothing true to life. Each parable started well and ended with the exact same boring moral, the subtext overt: God is watching. One of the first books I remember reading was The Yellow Book of Bible Stories, which I found on a table at a friend’s house. Title of piece in Epoch Press issue #2 ‘Aftermath’: Mum
Her piece, “Mum”, can be found in EPOCH Issue 02: Aftermath, available to purchase here. She has completed her first novel, Staring into Darkness Sipping Tea. Pavan is a writer and musician based in London.
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