All Comments on 'Forever Autumn'

Lovely to see you return to this world you have made and a joy to read. Thank you.

As a recovering addict, this story hit me hard but I am so thankful to see it. This is the reality all to often gone unseen. Thank you so very much for writing this. As heartbreaking and cruel it seems to be, it's beautiful in it's truth.

I so hope there is a way for Sarah to heal...

Thanks so much for your story!

What a beautifully told story, full of emotion and love. Whilst the ending was not the happy ever after kind, it fitted perfectly with characters and their plight. You took on a difficult subject that's not often spoken about or included in erotic literature, but you did it in such a moving way with depth and realistic characters in Sarah and Carole, it was brilliant

I want to clobber Mrs Vernon a gud un for looking to blame anyone but her self and adding to Sarah's lot. Very moving, very sexy intimate scenes and great writing, Thank you Maonaigh.

Jc

...... its actually heartbreaking to realise that many kids today would never have heard of the likes of The Moody Blues, or Bread or ELO or any of the REAL supergroups of our youth.

I was actually talking with that subject with my 15 year old daughter in the car last week as I had the car radio on Radio 2.

As for the story ........ just WOW.

A powerful insight into the mind of an alcoholic.

I know an ex Scotland international football player who lost everything through drink.

Fame, fortune and family all gone now and he only blames himself.

He (like many others) has fallen off the wagon and has had to start all over again on a lot more than one occasion, and has actually gone for a few years sober, then has that "just one" drink, and the cycle starts again.

Sometimes love just isn`t enough.

Maybe over simplified, but for many people sadly accurate.

Beautiful and well written, in the sadness there is love! Thank you!

As always Maonaigh, your words have touched my heart. I’m sat in my garden trying not to cry. Your gift of words is a blessing to those of us who have been lucky enough to discover your work. This feels like such a personal story. Your sensitivity to the subject matter can surely only come from someone who has seen first-hand what a terrible and destructive disease alcoholism is. The line Monty said about god bringing alcoholics home was especially touching. I’m not a religious person, but that brought a sense of comfort to me. Thank you so much for this sad but still wonderful tale. I eagerly look forward to your next story. Much love and many thanks.

This was a brilliantly written story that was a rough emotional read. You took a very difficult topic and provided a very real to life story, a heartbreaking experience of loving an alcoholic. Although this is a story of two women in love, the role Monty played cannot be over looked. His advice may seem harsh but he spoke the truth. Carole may have loved Sarah, but in her world, as with many like her, she loved the bottle more. I hope, as a writer, you provide some comfort and future love to Sarah. She’s a special character. Well done M!

You weren't joking about it being dark. You tackled a difficult subject that is so often misunderstood or misinterpreted, alcoholism is a cunning disease. Perhaps if Sarah had found Alanon it might have helped Carole stay sober, it's been said that Alanon will ruin an alcoholic's drinking. The only minor criticism I have is what Monty initially said when referring to Carole as dry instead of sober, an older member would never say that. You're either sober today or drunk never dry. Apart from that though, the slow descent into madness and death is pretty much spot on.

I normally like to have a happy ending but this was excepltional.

A very worthwhile read, despite the unhappy ending. But that's why I enjoy your stories so much... I always know I'll feel something. Thanks for giving us another five-star tale.

I was not going to read this but am so glad I did, I could almost see them together, a lot of what if's and I should have done something more, but only she could do it and no matter how much you try to help, in the end it would be to no avail. Great story with a sad ending

I just love the thread of the story, despite its tragic outcome. There are many words, but the most important of all, at least from my perspective, are "Well done."

From one author to another, I salute you. Wait.... Maybe, in my case I curtsey? So confused by social mores. :)

Hugs always

Anna

xxx

Tragic beauty is all I can think with teary eyes.

I thank you, Maonaigh, for immersing yourself in the world of alcoholism and the treacherous pathway to recovery. You developed the love between Sarah and Carole and drew it forth magnificently -- all of which made the ultimate surrender all the more tragic. As for yourself, I wish you peace and joy!

I wept over this story. I am 82 and have lost family and friends to old age and disease. In particular my 59 yo daughter is alcoholic.

M you know my feelings about your amazing work, having messaged you separately.

RL

Such a powerful story so well told. I was a health worker and encountered my share of addicts, particularly alcoholics, and you write so well about it. I was lucky enough to be allowed to observe an AA meeting, something I'll never forget and your account was so good. I love your mix of stories but this one particularly stands out, with very slight alteration, could it be told elsewhere? Whatever thank you for sharing all these wonderful stories.

Generally, very good.

But two things to consider:

1. I felt it was too preachy. Meaning, that some of the emotion of the story was covered over by the "point of the story" rather than the people of the story.

2. Death (here on Lit) almost always means tears to all the readers. And quite reliably, in my reading comments, not related to gender. But, this one didn't quite hit me that way.

I considered a while, why it didn't. And then I realized that "the story" was too much about the "things" of it and not enough about the "people" of it. For instance, we learned nothing about what initially triggered Carole's problem, how it affected her life, how she almost triumphed over it, or how she failed to do so. We were simply told she did almost beat it and then she didn't. Nothing related to why.

Nor did we learn much about Sarah beyond the happenings of this storyline. Who was she really? How did she come to love Carole? And most importantly if she was in love, how did she survive their years of separation? What happened to her.

In short, we are all the summary of our histories, but we (the readers) didn't see much at all of the histories of the two main characters, creating emotional chasm we (I, at least) couldn't cross.

As a reference to the PERFECT use of death in relationships here on Lit, simply search for "Milly Scott" in Stories Search. I've only read Milly's saga twice, it takes SO much out of me to even THINK about reading it. It's simply not to be missed.

Countless possibilities to blame yourself about loosing your soulmate ...... Horror show ...... Sitting here and tears runni g down my face have been there too and no even after years there is no solving no forgiveness ...... Yes im wih my former commenter okami, it might be cut dep in feelings, but it was aboutcarole and her problems, may not feelings, as an alcoholic is hiding those ..... What i have learned here reading stories on the lit platform, that AA meetings and this alcohol abuse is the most horrible problem the human race is facing ...... I feel sick in the stomach just thinking about what alcohol is destroying or is able to destroy and ere are no actions from any politicians or WHO world health organisation to change anything related to this ..... Alcohol is the cheapest drug and money rules, so like other poisening stuff we the humans dint learn from our mistakes

🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 for the carole and her painful being thank you Maonaigh

Bleak story and one I think a fair few people have encountered over their lives, I’ve known a couple myself and have always felt for their families. That all said, the story worked well, we empathised with the characters, you paced it well, although a showdown with the vile mother would have helped redress the balance of the story and given our M/C a bit of closure, although hearing her homophobia, obsessiveness and cold, unfriendly nature was most likely responsible for her daughters drinking/death might well have driven the pinched and nasty Mrs Vernon to the drink herself, given her genetic disposition…

Many thanks for writing a story that must have been tough to get down, it made for hard reading for us too, but shines a light on the unpleasant side of alcohol. Best wishes, Ppfzz. 5⭐️

I reread this story this evening this evening to honor Maonaigh, who passed away just a few days ago. There are a lot of great storytellers on this site, but he was something special. I feel lucky that we became friends, and I chose this piece for my final comment because I know how hard he worked to get it exactly right.

Rest in peace, you dear, sweet man. Your stories made so many people happy, and your unexpected friendship was one of the joys of my life over the past five years.

With love, Van

I have just reread this beautiful, tragic tale and yet again was moved to tears.

I was also deeply saddened to read that Maonaigh had died. We did exchange some private correspondence regarding alcoholism and he also advised me on something I had written. I was about to contact him again, so that will now never happen.