Esther Freud

Date: 09.05.18
Author: Louise Haywood-Schiefer
Esther’s house appears to be perfectly made for a writer. You enter the front door and London is left behind you, replaced instead with a space more evocative of a countryside retreat. Vast windows and greenery and a view that I imagine a couple of months ago felt like she had awoken on the front of a Christmas card.
It feels calm and conducive to putting pen on paper which Esther frequently does as a novelist and playwright.
With a demeanour mirroring the gentleness of her abode, we spend a good while talking about craft- embroidery and spoon carving- and using them as meditative pursuits for restless fingers. This theme also threads through the narrative of her forthcoming play ‘Stitchers’ at the Jermyn Theatre. The premise is about a group of prisoners who reap mental health benefits through embroidery and it sounds right up my street.©Louise Haywood-Schiefer/ ©Louise Haywood-Schiefer/ ©Louise Haywood-Schiefer/