Things That Are Different Now

by Sophia Hembeck

The house that I live in has a sentence engraved into its wall.
J’avance.
I’m advancing. I’m moving forward.
Change is following me anywhere I go;
it’s written all over my inner landscape,
folding into myself.
I started this book in the belief that I could write about change, that I could excavate what constitutes transformation, to understand “the process” and figure out how to trust it along the way. Yet I am finding myself in a constant shift of what feels like performing open heart surgery on myself, trying to explain, whilst understanding, whilst doing. Amidst the constant blind spots sprouting every time I choose a perspective, I lose another. There’s always something. In many ways this book snuck its way onto the page, as if remembering a faint dream in the morning, barely feeling its presence. And then later through the day suddenly rushing in, with all its vividness into the forefront of my mind. It was all there – all real.
So I guess in the end this book is not exactly about change but about being alive in one body, one existence, moving forward.
– No wonder I am struggling.

//

When I started writing about my own life, searching for myself ("Things I Have Noticed," 2020) and for my self-worth ("Things I Have Loved," 2023), this book dedicated to self-narration ("Things I Have Changed") had actually already begun long before. It is a collage of all the blind spots and omissions, the things I couldn't or wouldn't see over the years. It is about the things I don't want to write about: my mother, money, control, intrusive thoughts, fear. – But must.

Part collage, part confession, her new poetic memoir pushes into the liminal spaces we avoid—the shadows of selfhood, the parts of us that hurt, heal, and keep moving forward. Hembeck’s words unfold like a dream remembered—fragile, vivid, and unshakable.

A glimpse into the creative alchemy of self-narration, Things I Have Changed is more than a book; it’s an experience.

136 pages, Unknown Binding

Published May 15, 2025

About the author

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Sophia Hembeck is a writer and visual artist based in Edinburgh.

She has published three books of essays called:

Things I Have Noticed / Muse Letter Publishing, 2020

Things I Have Loved / Muser Letter Publishing,
2023

Things That Are Different Now / Muse Letter Publishing, 2025


Every Sunday she writes The Muse Letter on substack, where she wonders about the meanderings of life. Read on themuseletter.substack.com

Reviews

[Juliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I want to write a book about change while I'm in the process of it. But I don't know where to put the end. When do I stop? And when does the cycle begin again? The only constant is change, there is no arriving ever, but only limerence. Yet a flower blooms to fruition, there is a prime, a phase where we accomplish something, where we *are* for a moment, if even ever so lightly, solid.” Sophia Hembeck’s Things trilogy of essayistic memoirs concludes with Things That Are Different Now, a lyrical and meditative exploration of change. From the mother-daughter relationship to the ways class and economics affect and impede the life of the writer, Hembeck’s vision is vast, and yet laser-focused when it needs to be. Often the unsaid is as important, an exemplification of her own theories on the difference between the lacuna and the blindspot. “The interesting part of a blindspot is that you are not even aware of its existence. Some things are too painful to even acknowledge. […] The lacuna is a gap where something used to be: you know its shape, so you feel its absence. The blind spot on the other hand. — Is simply *not there*.” It’s also worth mentioning that, in addition to being thoughtful and emotive, it’s also funny and deeply relatable: “I send a meme to a friend: *Instead of hot girl summer, I'm having Grey Gardens summer where I dress in eccentric outfits and am on the verge of financial ruin.* "This hits a little too close to home, doesn't it?" he answers.”

[Emma Marx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Bin eh Sophie Hembeck-Fangirl, aber immer wieder fasziniert davon, wie sie so viel ausdrückt, ohne alles hinzuschreiben. Es geht um das Leben mit/durch/für die Kunst und den struggle damit, um Mütter, die man nie wirklich komplett kennen kann, darum, wie wenig Kontrolle wir manchmal haben (felt that so much!) und um die irrationale Angst vorm eigenen Haaransatz (new fear unlocked). Das alles im Selbstverlag!

[Marcelo Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Both grandmothers arrived in Gevelsberg in the same year, not knowing about each other, yet sharing a similar path, marrying within the first year and getting pregnant, not knowing that they would be tied together. That all their choices would lead to my parents, lead to me. Did they see each other on the high street? Did they sit on the same bus? Did they get drunk and stumble into the ladies room, standing next to each other washing their hands?”

[Susanne Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part 3 of the Things-Trilogy. I loved the first two books but this is my favorite from the series. I read it within one day and enjoyed every minute of it! And I got myself some new underwear after reading - you'll find out why, when you pick up this delight of a book!

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant book by Sophia Hembeck. What a series!

[Naz Ozbek · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down to 3