It’s the 3^rd of October, which means it is an Edith day. It’s Edith’s last day of ordinary life before her husband Percy is murdered. I condensed Edith’s story into this post (https://substack.com/home/post/p-156556174 ), and there are only so many ways to tell it, but I couldn’t say nothing.

In some ways, Edith and I are opposites, she is sociable; I am introverted. She has this vitality which I feel I will never possess.

But we share overactive imaginations and a love of words.

She has given me a lot of solace in the five years I’ve known her. She possesses a self-belief that I find inspiring. And she’s taught me to hope.

After the news of her failed appeal, she wrote to a friend from Holloway: ‘However, I’m going to forget all that now, I’m going to hope.’

She had almost no power, she was waiting to die, but she could still choose how to live within her circumstances, and she chose to keep living in hope.

I try to remember that when I feel hopeless. It carries a lot of power.

The ultimate hope, though, is for Edith’s pardon. The fight goes on.