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The Poems of Geraldine Murfin-Shaw
Geraldine is a Yorkshire poet who has lived in Lancashire since 1982. She is a mother and grandmother who had a varied career as librarian, secretary and Head Chef. She has written ten books so far, including two cookbooks. Writing and poetry come naturally to her, but she is also interested in gardening, cooking, astrology, dreams, tarot, shamanic spirituality, African drumming and her current dog, Lola. She was a performance poet around Manchester in the '80s; famous for fifteen minutes in 1985 for reading naked poetry in a jacuzzi. She also appeared as a standup comic and karaoke singer. Her poetry has a raw, earthy quality. She does not mince her words. She has moved audiences to tears and laughter in equal measure. She is not for the faint-hearted, the squeamish or those of a ladylike disposition.
A Bit on the Blind Side
Downing tools in the allotment where they have toiled for the last six years, Valerie and her husband Wolfram decide to cycle to Germany to visit his mother. Before they leave, Val's guide the Aztec Priest appears among the bean rows and tells her this will be a Vision Quest - and so it turns out to be, not least due to their involvement in Channel 4's 'Real Holiday Show'. In spite of the dangers they encounter on this trip they develop an appetite for foreign parts and embark on many subsequent cycling adventures, all of which turn out more or less disastrously. Travel with them as they ride through France, Italy and their beloved Black Forest - the stoic Val shouting instructions from behind as the hapless blind Wolf does his best to avoid hitting anything. Share their horrors and delights at the larger-than-life characters they meet abroad and the comradeship of their Asian neighbours on the allotments. A heartwarming and spiritual tale of two lives inextricably intertwined - until Fate intervened.
The Man Who'll See the Poet
This book takes up the story where 'At Least She Never Drank Much' - the first volume of Geraldine's autobiography - left off. Her erratic journey through life continues to intrigue as she walks out of her job and into an enchanted world of witches, weirdos and wannabe poets. Two offbeat characters she meets at an Earth Mysteries Group kick off the changes that Fate has in store for her, and a charismatic stranger she meets on a train takes her on a magical mystery tour through Cumbria's Lakeland, opening up her latent spirituality and leaving her hearing the Voice of God in her head. Like the Cat that Walks by Himself, Geraldine threads her own path through witches' sabbats, predatory preachers, performance poets and passionate romances, coming out at the end of it with The Man Who'll See the Poet - the only man who ever saw her as she was, instead of what he wanted her to be. There is magic and mayhem in this charming book, which has Ms Murfin-Shaw's uniquely individualistic touch.
Two Years on the English Gulag
It's 1979 and Val is ready for a new challenge. Answering an ad in The Caterer, she gets the job of Head Chef at Brownsea Castle in Poole Harbour. Once there she has to cope with a staff of six unruly lads, all but one pushing six foot. She bonds over a curry with her boss, a blustering, red-faced ex-colonial who thinks he runs the Castle while his level-headed wife strives to keep his feet on the ground and his nose to the grindstone. Read about Tony, the gangling teenager from Liverpool who makes blue cakes for tea, Briggs the recalcitrant Scotsman with his catchphrase 'If it's burrnt they cannae say it's not kewked' and the delectable Jimmy who poses in his football shorts outside her room on hot afternoons. Coming back for the return match in 1980 Val's heart is gladdened by the arrival of a team of divers. She finds a passionate lover in the boat's engineer, whom she dubs the Red-Bearded Dwarf. A laugh, a delight from start to finish, you will enjoy the escapism of this island where anything goes.
Four Geminis and a Jacuzzi
Tired of looking down holes in the road for a 'real' man, Sally can't believe her luck when she finds one on a building site. Rough, bearded and covered in cement dust, he is just what she is looking for. But Jimmy Pinchbeck is the site owner on his day off, and turns up to take her out wearing an Italian suit and white shoes, and driving a Merc. He is nuts on blondes, crazy about Abba, and appointing Sally as chef at his sordid sports club is all his dreams rolled into one. What happens next is a trial of strength between diametric opposites - Jimmy, the archetypal conman, knows every trick in the book, but even he can't find out what makes Sally tick. Read about shenanigans with staff and jollies in the jacuzzi as the club lurches from one financial crisis to another and Jimmy talks his way out of everything, while Sally struggles to hold the catering enterprise together and defend her staff from his depredations.
Dream Diary of a White Witch
The author became an initiated Priestess of Wicca in 1984, and kept a dream diary until 1995. This is a record of the dreams which assisted her spiritual development. A happy hunting ground for psychologists, paranormal investigators and dream analysts. There is a second dream sequence running from 2007 to 2012 in which she lives a parallel life with her husband in Spirit, and also helps others with their dream development.
Sweet Chef
After a year at the Cook's Academy, Sally is handed a certificate of competence and slung out onto the job market. At 35, she wonders who will employ someone so overqualified and under-experienced, so jumps at the chance of a job in the Zoo, where she quickly finds that the chefs are more dangerous than the animals! Sweating in the intense heat of one of the hottest summers on record, Sal develops muscles as she rolls pastry for pies that would gladden the heart of Desperate Dan. Inevitably, the kids Cleo and Alex manage to escape their grandmother's clutches and turn up at the zoo, posing Sal a problem, not least in the romance department, Cleo now an extremely beautiful fifteen year old, knocking her mother into the shade, and throwing the monkeys into fits of jealousy when their keeper gets the hots for her. Add the Entertainers - re-enacting a bizarre 17th Century hanging every night, and you have a mix that is hotter than dynamite!
A Ten-Sun Day
In the Popol Vuh, I found this strange path to the stars. It was many years ago when I decided to study Architecture. I, instead, entered a whole new area of study, one that encompassed the whole world, but it eventually zeroed in on a major catastrophe in the Americas. All versions of the Popol Vuh and the Chumayel tell of the disaster as future prophecies. and yes, they should be prophecies, since if we don't know the origin, how will we learn to protect ourselves when and if another similar event occurs?
The Country House Chef's Book
The author has had a lifelong interest in food which she pursued professionally beginning in 1974. She has worked in a variety of establishments and prefers country house cooking to a la carte. This is a compilation of her personal recipe file which she built up during her time in the industry. Although the recipes are intended for volume catering she has included scaled-down versions for the family table. For a full understanding of her repertoire and expertise read 'The Curious Cook's Book' by the same author, available from Lulu and Amazon.
