What I'm reading + NOTD pt.16

With this weather it's not unusual that this is the third book post in a row. When it's raining and it's foggy outside what is there to do than read? 

This time the young adult novel A Swift Pure  Cry brought me to Ireland in year 1984. After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. She must also deal with school, friendship and first love. At top of that Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again. This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality it will move the hearts of any who read it.

Here I would like to write some things about the author because she was not just the writer, but also an activist and helped the children in need. In 1984, she joined the writer's organisation International PEN, initially as a researcher for its Writers in Prison Committee and later as Program Director of PEN American Center's Freedom-to-Write Committee in New York City. Her work there included founding and leading the Rushdie Defense Committee (USA) and travelling to Indonesia andGuatemala to investigate local human rights conditions for writers. During her seven-year stay in New York, Dowd was named one of the "top 100 Irish-Americans" by Irish-America Magazine and Aer Lingus for her global anti-censorship work.

On her return to the UK, Dowd co-founded, with Rachel Billington, English PEN's readers and writers program. The program takes authors into schools in socially deprived areas, as well as prisons, young offender's institutions and community projects. During 2004, Dowd served as Deputy Commissioner for Children's Rights in Oxfordshire, working with local government to ensure that statutory services affecting children's lives conform with UN protocols.

Before her death from a severe case of breast cancer, the Siobhan Dowd Trust, a registered charity, was established, wherein the proceeds from her literary work will be used to assist disadvantage children with their reading skills. If you'd like to learn more about the Trust click here. 

After reading all of this it seems a little bit shallow to talk about the nail polish, but since this is now a regular category on my blog, here you go. The nail polish is from H&M with the name Lady Luck. It is a duochrome that shifts from green to blue. The application was easy, two coats were needed for full opacity.

Have a great day! :)