“We had once what we can never have again. So why, then, do we behave as if everything we have connected with, everything we have blessed with our loving, should be ours for keeps? It is enough to have tiptoed to that space beyond the skin, beyond our nerve endings, and to have glimpsed things that beforehand we only half knew”
A Faraway Smell of Lemons is a Christmas Short Story by actress, radio playwright and author, Rachel Joyce. It may be Christmas, but Binny’s life has fallen apart: the faulty shower, the broken glass pane in the front door, the smashed crockery on the kitchen floor, the unbought Christmas cards, food and gifts; it’s all Oliver’s fault. What sort of Christmas Binny’s children, Coco and Luke are going to get this year is anyone’s guess. Binny has just a few hours to fix it, and a staggering lack of enthusiasm for the task. Trying to avoid another school mother in the High Street, she slips into a shop that sells nothing Binny has ever wanted, but she somehow finds exactly what she needs. A sweet story that may well bring a tear to the eye.
4.5 stars