There are two full moons this month: the Flower Moon on May 1st and a Blue Moon this coming Sunday, on the 31st. And because I have two moons of my own in mind this month, it seems a good time to mention the children's novels I'll be publishing later this year: Moon's Travelling Circus, and the sequel, The Voyage of the Molly Moon.As a child growing up in Owl's House, that place on the southern tip of Africa that I remember with such affection, the stories I loved most were always about magic and enchantment. Princesses, goblins and deep, dark forests; witches, mermaids and dragons. (I still have shelves full of them, to share with the grandchildren and to re-read myself.)
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Old favourites |
Somehow though, I never managed to find a really magical story set in the part of the world I lived in. We had folk tales, animal and school stories, safari adventures, and books about ordinary, everyday things - many of which I loved - but no Faraway Trees, or ships that flew. They all seemed to belong to children in other far-off countries, and it didn't seem fair.
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My childhood ocean. Whales and sharks
often spotted, but no sea serpents
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Which is why I wrote Moon's Travelling Circus, in which a girl with an African mother and Irish father finds herself on a magical journey through African time and space. An ancient amulet, a travelling circus, a sorcerer, a time-traveller, dragons and cats all play their parts. And I enjoyed writing it so much that I wrote a sequel - The Voyage of the Molly Moon - in which the main characters are reunited on a voyage around the northern coast of Ireland in search of something lost long ago. In this one there are sea-witches and a sea monster, mysterious lighthouses, and yes, a ship that flies.
Sadly, both languished with my agent, who loved but couldn't place them. This is hardly surprising because my children's books are undeniably traditional. There are no major traumas or adult issues in them; in fact there are hardly any adults, apart from retired circus people and hotel proprietors whose guests rarely come in through the doors. But the handful of children who
have read these stories have given me some wonderful responses. I still treasure the message from a book-loving great-nephew, beginning 'Great-Aunt Helen, this is the best book I have ever read in my LIFE!' (And no, he wasn't in line for an inheritance.)
So they'll both be published under the Owl's House Press imprint created by Averill Buchanan, with beautiful cover illustrations by the wonderful Rebecca Elliot. (Detail from The Voyage of the Molly Moon on the left.)
And if you're going to publish two books, why not three for luck? Because Gabriel's Angel (completed last year) is my third adult novel. It's about a girl, a garden, a grieving artist, a grumpy old woman, a second-hand bookshop and a ghost. There are links, as always, to Africa and Ireland, and there is also, inevitably, a cat, but unlike my other two adult novels - The Traveller's Guide to Love and Life Study #2 - this one is not autobiographical. (Note to my family: you'll be quite safe reading it.)
It goes without saying that I'm lucky to be able to do this - and it will almost certainly cost me more than I'll ever make back - but for me the five books now under the Owl's House imprint will be tangible proof of years of work, and will, I hope, give pleasure to the occasional reader who borrows one from a local library, or - once in a blue moon - actually buys one!
