Inkmarks On Empty Dreams

“My name is Ilem and when I was 13 years old the entire school found out I am lesbian because of a letter I wrote to one of the most popular girls in school, of course, the letter reached the hands of the school board. The truth is, at that time I haven’t even defined myself as a lesbian, and even when I have always liked women, as a kid I thought that was something that only happened to me in the whole world, it was a very distressing feeling and made me feel isolated and abnormal. But the students and teachers did know how to call me: “la cachapera” (it’s an offensive way to say “dyke” in Venezuela).   Of course, the students made me their object of mockery, the boys came to me in groups to insult me during the recess, my classmates gave me nicknames and even some teachers turned a blind eye about the derogatory comments I received at the middle of class. I was very confused and scared, I felt weak and without wheeling. As the gossip runs like powder, the rest of my family, frien...

I have heard many Americans be afraid that after the elections their freedoms and their current civil rights could be taken away from them, I am speaking of immigrants, gay people, lesbians or any other minority in the US. In Europe, America is seen as the greatest democracy in the world, America is made out of immigrants : British, Irish, African-Americans, Hispanics, Germans, Jews, Chinese a.s.o, none will be able to take your freedoms away, you are America and can be Hollywood or any other famous place in the US, your parents, grand parents have made this country great. Here, in Europe, there are many countries still struggling with post-communist democracies that have no grounds yet or constitutional monarchies or a Germany to open to Syrians. The world order changes, but the political systems shouldn’t fight each other or their own citizens as in Russia, but fight together against a really threatening  danger which is terrorism. Americans have  more than 300 years of democracy and...

Ash (Ainsling)’s story amazed me, because I expected some interpretation of a fairytale, sweet and magic, perhaps with a twist, yet it’s so much more than that, it’s a road map novel for Ash’s personal evolution as a human, Ash’s escape from grieving her mother and her father, Ash’s belief in magic and Ash’s strength of will in achieving love in it’s purest state. At first, I saw Ash as a little girl who, unfortunately, lost the human being who loved her the most and influenced her growth the most : her mother Elinor.She only has her father now and Maire Solanya, her mother’s friend and a follower of ancient traditions as the Yule, she believed in magic and it’s power, yet Ash’s father didn’t and wanted to keep Ash away of it and his grieving ends soon as he comes back from the capital with a new wife, Lady Isobel  and two stepdaughters, Ana and Clara,  supposed or Ash to have some companions. Ash’s nightmare begins with her father’s sudden death and her stepmother’s rise. Ash becomes ...

„Lily of the tower” by Elizabeth Hart is that kind of novel that seems simple, yet it’s extremely complex, a combination of  Emily Bronte’s „Wuthering Heights” concerning Lily’s character and situation and  Jane Austen’s „Jane Eyre” concerning Agnes’s character involving her marriage and in the end, her love for Lily, the captive of  the tower. Elizabeth Hart manages to introduce us to two wealthy families during Regency period of  the Victorian Era’s England : the Netherfield’s and the Headey’s. Smoothly, the story  flows by understanding  our two main character’s situations. Lily Netherfield is the only daughter of the wealthy family and it’s expected  soon to be married, yet  she has an affair with her maid and her parents and her brother take her to an asylum and then imprison her in the family’s domain, because she is considered t be ill and reluctant to be cured. Lily is resigned, because she understands  that even now, after their parents’ death, her brother looks at her with pi...