At twilight I slipped out of the convent and into the herb garden. Unlocking the gate, I strolled under the old stone arch to the fields beyond. The sky was blue violet, and a golden moon was rising over the hills. The air was sweet with the scent of the rustling grasses. Wildflowers, some blooming only for a day, shivered in the evening breeze. I walked through the fields, until the monastery and convent were only a dim silhouette behind me. I breathed in over and over, wanting to savour the scent and the taste of the countryside. The forest on the hillside was dim and silent and the tree branches were like lace against the setting sun. The meadows rolled out to the horizon, where the river glittered through banks of poplar trees. I tried to capture each part of the landscape in my mind, so that I could imagine it, wherever I might go.
Like the character Elise, I grew up in the country before moving to the city. (Strange fact – I grew up next door to a convent!)
Are there places that you have left behind in your life? Do you think of them often? If you are a writer, do you incorporate those memories into your writing?
One response to “Leaving home”
[…] left her idyllic country home, Elise has found herself in a web of greed, betrayal and deceit – and magic. Can she escape […]