"... lit on fire with excitement"

"… But The Silent Wife [by A. S. A. Harrison] has a striking story behind its publication that makes it an unlikely best seller: In a season that has been dominated by brand-name authors—Khaled Hosseini, Stephen King and J. K. Rowling—Ms. Harrison was a Toronto writer and an unknown, who had never published a novel before. Her book was released as a paperback original, not a hardcover, which is the preferred, more expensive format chosen when a publisher wants a book to make a big splash.

     And in a real-life tragic twist, Ms. Harrison died of cancer in April, only weeks before her book was published. She was 65….
     Samantha Haywood, Ms. Harrison’s literary agent in Canada, said that Ms. Harrison spent much of her career working as an editor and writing nonfiction under the name Susan Harrison.
     Until The Silent Wife, Ms. Harrison’s attempts at fiction had sputtered out. She wrote two novels that Ms. Haywood described as 'cozy mysteries,' but they never sold to a publisher.
     Then Ms. Harrison had the idea for The Silent Wife, with its concept of his-and-hers narratives. 'She was lit on fire with excitement,' Ms. Haywood said. “It was quite fully realized as an idea.'"
— Julie Bosman, The New York Times
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"Is that a broomstick between your legs — or just a flamingo?"

"Alice trying to play croquet with a flamingo" from Lewis Carroll's
 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) original illustration:
John Tenniel  (from: Wikimedia Commons)

"Huddled together in the chill January wind, the players listened as a PPE fresher in a black cape read the rules of the game: a Quaffle through a hoop would score 10 points, capturing the Snitch would yield a bountiful 30, and under no circumstances was there to be any 'grabbing of broomsticks.' With that, they were off: two teams, with seven players each, racing round a playing field and trying to shoot a basketball through hula-hoops. [...]
     Known as Muggle Quidditch to those for whom JK Rowling's lexicon is as familiar as any entry in the dictionary, the game was adapted for non-wizards around seven years ago in the US, where it has since caught on and become a familiar pastime for students at some of the country's best-known institutions, including Yale, Harvard and Tufts (Wipfler's college). Instead of flying, players run with broomsticks between their legs, and instead of a golden ball with wings attached, the Snitch is a person dressed in yellow. Although tackling is frequent and being hit by a volleyball, or 'bludger,' is likely, the 'spirit of Quidditch' is encouraged. As one player for the University college team put it: 'If you're massive and there's a little person, don't run into them.'
— Lizzie Davies, The Guardian
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