A chair is just a chair ...

or is it?

This debut collection of fifteen short stories explores whether there is much more to this everyday piece of furniture than it first appears. The chairs in question are all ‘Bentwood’, the innovative creations of the designer Michael Thonet, first introduced in the mid-1830s. As each new character is revealed, and their individual loss becomes apparent, it is evident that chairs are not just for sitting upon and they carry their own history etched within the wood.

One chair becomes a weapon when rival females clash; another a makeshift stage for an older woman, whose decisions have never been her own; a Bentwood rocker is a symbol of independence and choice, and a magnificent butterfly chair befriends a troubled child. In the final story, this assortment of chairs is brought together around one grand table, where Walter, Michael Thonet’s fictitious butler, prepares for a dinner party he will never forget.

Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, into a family of avid book readers, Jan studied English Literature at Manchester University. She is a compulsive people-watcher and is enthralled by the minutiae of everyday life, utilising both these facets of her personality within her writing.

When not sitting at a desk with pen in hand, she loses herself in the garden, where she can be found with hands in the soil, or inhaling the scent of flowers. You may also catch her walking along country lanes, armed with a camera, or having fun with family and friends.

The volunteers are working happily in a small nature reserve in Middlesex. They mow the meadows, repair the boardwalk, dredge the pond, and keep the paths tidy. They chat amongst themselves and discuss how they could solve all the world’s problems... if only the reserve’s management and government more generally would listen and act rationally. It would be idyllic, if it wasn’t for the litter-picking.

Years before, the area had been shaped by noisily competing railway companies: used as a quarry, and as railwaymen’s gardens, abandoned, saved from being built over. It was a miracle it had survived, with nature flourishing amidst the urban jungle. Meanwhile, in a minor English public school, the boys endure a life of spotty food, compulsory team games, bullying, and homophobia. Some of them are marked for life.

Back in the reserve, families visit on sunny days while school groups come to hunt bugs and go pond-dipping. But some visitors hurry in and out without glancing at the wildlife. What can they be up to? As the volunteers speculate on what’s happening, one of them plays a practical joke, which goes horribly wrong. As the police arrive to solve the supposed murder, history catches up with the unwelcome visitors.

Ian Alexander is a retired systems engineer, amateur naturalist, and conservation volunteer. He enjoys seeing and photographing wildlife of many kinds, especially dragonflies and orchids. He has co-authored several books on systems engineering.

He is the author of a history book, The English Love Affair with Nature (2015) and contributed five chapters to West London Wildlife (2022).

He gives talks to natural history groups on the subject of that love affair, and on topics such as camouflage and life in an urban nature reserve.

He is married with one daughter.

https://www.obsessedbynature.com