Latest news with #HeatherParry
Leader Live
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Couple have dream wedding despite Harrisons Hall closure
In March this year, soon-to-be-married couples were left in despair when Harrisons Hall, Mold, announced its sudden closure citing the cost-of-living and current economic crisis leaving it 'impossible to run'. Harrison's Hall, Mold (Image: Newsquest archive) One of those couples was Heather Parry and Daniel Bolland. Previously speaking to the Leader, Heather said she was devastated to have been let down and at such short notice, and had no choice but to cancel their original honeymoon as a result. Shortly before the venue confirmed a bride's worst nightmare, Heather admitted she knew in her gut that something was wrong. Heather and Daniel's special day (Image: Weddings by Mark) After weeks of no responses to emails and calls to finalise plans, she confessed something felt wrong to her partner, and called it 'stranger bridal intuition.' In the midst of the shock, they were left no choice but to find another venue. Alas, Vale Country Club in Ruthin saved the day and lived up to every expectation. Just a few weeks ago, the happy couple from Buckley had the wedding they have always dreamed about, and went as far to say 'everything happens for a reason.' (Image: Weddings by Mark) "We had the most perfect day", said the newlyweds, "and we 100% put that down to our fabulous suppliers and the venue that had come to the rescue. "Anna from Vale jumped in to save the day and honestly, words are not enough to describe how helpful, supportive and professional she was throughout the whole process and the day! We look back now and believe everything that happened did so for a reason." "As devastating as it was at the time everything worked out extremely well for us in the end. "Our wedding felt like something straight out of a fairy-tale book. We didn't face any challenges along the way after the Harrison's Hall closure luckily enough, every supplier we'd already booked was more than understanding and a lot of them offered discounts and added extras at no charge." MOST READ Their magical day was captured by photographer 'Weddings by Mark', based in Wythenshawe. And to all the future brides and grooms planning their day who may be facing the inevitable stress, Heather says: "Practical wise, always get wedding insurance before you make any kind of commitment to anything! "Romance wise, just enjoy the whole process of it (including the stressful times) because it really does feel like one heck of an achievement on the day when you can sit back with your new husband/wife and watch everyone you love having the best time."
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Carrion Crow by Heather Parry review – a stomach-clenching contender for awards
Heather Parry's Carrion Crow sets out its stall magnificently from the off, throwing the reader right into the deep end of a claustrophobic gothic grotesque. It catalogues one young woman's steady descent into incarcerated madness, becoming, as it goes, exponentially unsettling and increasingly stomach-churning. Marguerite Périgord lives a stone's throw from the 'shit-stink' of the River Thames in Victorian London with her family in a crumbling house that once was grand, but is no more. She has been confined to the attic, the sinister opening lines convey, 'for the sake of her wellbeing. That's what her mother had said.' Marguerite is the oldest daughter of Cécile Périgord, a woman who comes from new money – her father made soap for the queen - but who has since lost her tenuous grip on London high society after the departure of her husband, a man whose flagrant sex obsession has mired them in scandal. Marguerite is to be married to a much older – and significantly poorer – solicitor, but Cécile, whose general view of men now is understandably dim, does not approve. She locks her daughter away so that Marguerite can properly prepare herself for wifedom, and leaves her with the collected works of Victor Hugo, Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management and a sewing machine. Each evening, more or less, Cécile visits with a plate of sustaining food. But Marguerite worries that she might have been forgotten. Time slides. 'She understood that by now she must be older than when first she entered the attic; that there would be much less of her, no swell at her hips or breast, nothing to fill her cheeks up when she smiled.' A writer from Rotherham now living in Glasgow, Heather Parry is the author of one previous novel, a short story collection and a nonfiction work on capitalism, each of which found more plaudits than they did readers. This should change with Carrion Crow, which, surely, will win awards. Victorian London is reliably fertile ground for novelists. There is so much refinery, so much contrasting squalor; Parry prefers, and revels in, the latter. Her depiction of it, so vivid, makes the pages squelch. Locked away, Marguerite grows increasingly lonely. She can hear her siblings down below but can no longer access them, and her mother's nightly visits seem far less regular. Craving distraction, she indulges in self-exploration, no cavity too inaccessible. 'Marguerite found that the insides of her ears were thick with a mustard-coloured wax.' Beneath one fingernail she finds a woodlouse, 'so old as to be fossilised'. On particularly drab days, 'she could entertain herself for hours with the investigation of her own tonsils'. Hunger conjures its increasingly hypnotic spell, and she develops by necessity an adventurous palate. When a crow nesting alongside her brings worms back, Marguerite swipes one and pops it into her mouth. 'There she let it move, drawing moisture from her dry gums. She bit it into two wet halves, chewing it into a cud. It was orange jelly, it was veal cake, it was fricasseed turkey. A banquet for one.' Gradually, we come to learn more of Cécile's own nervous disposition, which may explain her maternal cruelty. Cécile is greatly reduced herself, cut off from her parents, adrift. But her steel remains. Reputation is at stake. When her daughter says, 'Mother, I am rotting here', Cécile barely flinches. The more Marguerite diminishes in her confinement, the more Parry comes into her element. Every sentence oozes a crushed purple poetry, overripe with devastation and wretchedness. Marguerite's plight is clearly one of tragedy, but it is thrillingly told, and you cannot look away. The film adaptation will carry an 18 certificate. If you finish it feeling you might just skip dinner, then you also feel filled with awe for a writer so gifted at conveying this much ick in such luxuriant, refulgent style. Carrion Crow by Heather Parry is published by Transworld (£16.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
