William Boyd
A Firing Squad
I used to swim on Bar beach when I was young. The waves ended their long journey across the Atlantic and seemed to break and crash with abandon and relief when they finally hit the West coast of Africa. Bar beach was long and wide. The waves surged in, green and strong, twelve feet high. I would stand in the shallow surf, then wade out and dive into the green throat of a breaker.
So when I went back it seemed natural to go there the first morning, a Sunday. I left my hotel early, at six, and drove to the beach. Mammies were setting up fruit and food stalls at the edge of the coast road; a few stray dogs picked and sniffed at the tide wrack, but otherwise I had the beach more or less to myself. The waves rolled eternally in – swell, peak, break, explode, then the frothing, dying run up the hard sand.
Pale small crabs skittered away from my feet as I walked to the surf’s edge. It was still cool and the leaning palms were softened by a dim haze. I turned, and walked slowly along the beach.
I saw the stages almost immediately and wondered how I had missed them before. Two
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm