Creative work

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Interview with Beattie Alvarez, creator extraordinaire

My friend, fellow creator and New England resident Beattie Alvarez is outrageously talented, with many strings to her bow. A published writer, illustrator, editor, book designer, and toymaker, Beattie also owns and runs one of Armidale’s favourite shops, Granny Fi’s Toy Cupboard, which also has a nationwide clientele. I’ve had the joy and privilege of working with Beattie on many projects, including many books for the acclaimed Armidale-based small publishing house we are both associated with, Christmas Press, and also with the New England Writers’ Centre, for which Beattie previously worked as program manager for several years. With grace, humour, and an impressive creative energy, Beattie manages to wear many different hats and make them all look like they were always meant to be, and recently I caught up with her to chat about her many creative and business achievements, and ask how she does it.

I guess that is in fact the first question, Beattie! How do you do it? How do you manage to combine so many skills and roles so well?

Well, I’m not sure that I do! However, there’s this person in my life that I call ‘Past Beattie’. She is awesome! When I’m running around like a headless chook, I often find that Past Beattie has already done a lot of the prep work for me. She is far more organised and business minded than I am!

How did it all begin? I know you come from a creative family and were creative even as a kid, but did anything or anyone in particular inspire you to take on the wide variety of things you do, or did it develop over time?

As with everything else in my life, I fell into everything by accident! The writing started when my favourite TV show was cancelled… without a proper ending. So I wrote my own! To date, my very first story has over 250k reads on Fan Fiction. The rest of it, is really because of my mum, Fiona McDonald. She had the opportunity, but not the time, to open a toy shop — which is something she’d always wanted. I managed it from the beginning and eventually took over officially in 2017. I grew up surrounded by stories, artists and a house full of handmade toys, and despite swearing I’d never become an artist because I wanted to make money when I grew up (I’m still waiting for both the money and the growing up), I seem to have become one!

You are a keen reader as well as a writer. Tell us about some of the books that you’ve loved and been inspired by. And what about art? How did you get into illustration?

Oh dear! How long have we got? There are so many books that I’ve loved and been inspired by for so many different reasons! I will start this by saying that almost all of the books are for children and young adults. Why would I read about grown up stuff when I could have an adventure without the worry of paying electricity bills? I always have a full handbag thanks to Jill Barklem’s In the High Hills (part of the Brambly Hedge series) which taught me to always have ‘the essential gear’. I’m just going to list some of my favourites, most of which involve the type of magic that movie makers forget about — cosiness, great descriptions of food and imagination. The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Nancy Drew, The Babysitters Club (yes, yes, I know!), a lot of Enid Blyton — from The Enchanted Wood to Malory Towers with a good dose of Noddy thrown in, classics like A Little Princess, Coral Island (one of Grandad’s favourites!), and the Railway Children. Narnia, how could I forget Narnia! Although, I will admit that it was the old BBC tv series that first got me into the land of Narnia. If you haven’t watched it, you should! Harry Potter, how could I own a magical toy shop AND be a writer without having had Harry as a big part of my life? And then we have some lesser known ones like The Changeover by Margaret Mahy, Tajore Arkle and Somewhere Around the Corner, both by Jackie French, A Place for Me which was Robert Westall’s last book and one of only a couple of books on my list that doesn’t have magic in it. We could even add in the Sweet Valley High series (again, I know how bad they are!), but I read them until they fell apart! All of these books have shaped who I am and what I do. I’m actually feeling a bit guilty and sorry for other favourite books of mine that haven’t made the list!

You’ve written several books, including four jointly created under the pen-name of Phoebe McArthur with your mother, artist and author Fiona McDonald, while your book as sole author, Escape from Sherwood, was illustrated by your husband, artist David Allan. What’s it like, collaborating with family on a book? What challenges and pleasures were there?

Now, this is what we do best! We are a family that works, creates and imagines together. And I love it! Mum and I have always tossed our writing back and forth between us to make a story as good as it can possibly be. Sometimes she writes the initial ideas and sometimes I do and then we edit each other’s work. It’s gotten to the point that we’ll be going through a manuscript and we won’t know who wrote what! So that’s why we started writing together under a nom-de-plume. Plus, there’s never enough room on a book cover for both of our names!

I actually met David through Mum (they were friends first), so it is easy for all of us to work together. When we were doing Escape from Sherwood together, it was quite simple — I said what I’d like illustrated and he either did it or gave me an option that would work better. We often share ideas and work together even if we aren’t officially working on the same project. David and I are working on a book at the moment, an idea of his that he’s been thinking about for years. I’m trying to turn those ideas into a middle grade novel. I write a chapter, send it to him, he tells me what he’d like added or removed, and we go back and forth until I’ve written the next chapter! Working with them both is an absolute joy!

You are the principal book designer for Christmas Press. Can you tell us a bit about how you started and what you learned along the way? What is your favourite part of book designing—and your least favourite? 😊

Haha, how did I start? Well! As usual, I fell into it by accident! It was my first big job as an editor — Once Upon a Christmas published by Christmas Press and David was illustrating. We had young children at that point and time got away from us. Back then, I knew how to these things on a computer: open a word document to write and edit, open the internet and turn on music to have something to work to. And that’s just about it. However, he was on a deadline, the book was going to the printer Very Soon. So while he illustrated, he was giving me instructions on how to use InDesign. And I mean very detailed instructions like: move the mouse to file and left click, no not right click, left click and move the mouse down to place. Now click that and choose the image and click okay, left click!

It was a struggle! Eventually, I got the hang of it and once I did, I realised how much fun I was having! When the finished book arrived and was so pretty and shiny, I couldn’t wait to do the next one!

I find doing the initial layout quite therapeutic and amazingly, the work is now almost automatic! Gone are the days of trying to remember the steps, I do them without thinking. Then we get to the fun part of designing it! Working out which fonts, what size, how to make the motifs work well. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t! The bit I like least would be when I get sent a document and the author hasn’t got a good grasp on how computers work. It is tedious to go through line by line and remove all the manual indents. Even when I do a global change, I still have to check each line.

Your beautiful handmade toys, especially the dragons, are a big hit with people of all ages, not just in the shop, but at the conventions and festivals around Australia that you participate in. How did you start on that particular creative track? And what is your favourite part of toy-making?

I’ve already talked about how we started the shop, but the actual toy making was a bit of a surprise. Mum was making dragons and we sold out on our opening day! She then told me to take orders… but I took a few too many and had to dust off my high school sewing skills very, very quickly to fill them all. Eventually, I had enough knowledge to start designing my own patterns and… once again bit off more than I could chew, so I graduated from Dragon Apprentice to Head Dragon Hatcher and David became the apprentice. He has also completed his apprenticeship and is now sometimes known as Mr Mandrake.

The first event we did was Supanova back in 2015.  I did NOT have high hopes for it, however, when Mum and I found ourselves madly sewing in the hotel room after the first night, I realised that I was wrong! We sold out at that event and just about sold out every one since then. In the last few years we’ve started branching out into Medieval fairs and similar shows because we suddenly worked out that they LOVED dragons back in those times!

Other than selling the toys, my favourite part of it is seeing people falling in love with something that we’ve made. Our toys aren’t just toys, they’re art that we’ve created and selling art — which we all know is ridiculously hard — is a fabulous feeling!

 Granny Fi’s is a very special shop, and has many dedicated clients, supporters and followers, both in person and online. Tells us about how it started, and what it’s like, running a busy small business, as a creative person?

Granny Fi’s Toy Cupboard has changed a lot since we started. It has evolved from a simple toy shop into one that specialises in fantasy and fandoms. We have things in the shop that shouldn’t go together, but somehow do, from fairy gardening to pop-culture to original art, books and of course, the handmade toys.

I love what I do, but it’s not without its difficulties. Money, of course, is the hardest thing. Not having done any business degrees or any degrees at all, I often find myself floundering or sometimes drowning in paperwork that I don’t understand, but have to make it work anyway. The events and online are the easy part, it’s the day-after-day of sitting in a shop in a very quiet town, that gets me down. However, I’m off to renew my lease on the shop today, so I guess I’m a glutton for punishment!

You have a great social media presence. What is your vision for it, and what do you think is the best strategy for not just collecting likes, but also encouraging people to seek out your products?

Our social media (mainly Facebook, but also Instagram) is my happy place! The community that has grown around our page is an amazingly supportive one and I think of all the followers as my friends! They’re there for me when I have a good day — or a bad one. They boost me up when we’ve not had a sale in three days and I can talk to them about anything, movies that I’ve seen and liked (or hated), the state of the roads and the weather, anything! Except politics. We don’t use naughty words like politics or adult in the shop!

I don’t have any particular vision for our social media. Apparently we’re allowed to ‘monetize’ our account now, but I not have any clue how to do that, nor do I really want to!

I have learnt a few things though which help with algorithms and reach.

  1. If I put a link, price or the words ‘website’ or ‘sale’  into a post, then it doesn’t get seen by anyone until I edit it a few hours later to say ‘hey guys, help me boost this!’. I get around that by using terms like ‘it’s for S on the W now’ and adding the link in as an edit later.
  2. A couple of days of big reach means that it’ll be a lower reach for a few days after that, so I try to time things that I think will have a bigger reach than others and not put anything that I want to have a big reach immediately after a big post.
  3. People love stories! I’m a storyteller at heart and I don’t like boring posts that say ‘buy this, I made it’. All of our social media, toys on the website, etc are FULL of stories.
  4. We get followers BECAUSE of the stories! There are some people that have become invested in the shop and my family because of what and how I post things. It is wonderful!

You go to a lot of fabulous events around the country to sell your toys and books. Can you tell us a bit about them, and what are your favourite aspects of participating—as well as the challenges?

We’ve touched on this already, but I’ll add in a bit more here.

One reason that we do so many events is simply cash flow. We can make more in a two day event than we sometimes do the rest of the month in the shop. It’s not just about that though. The events we go to are like entering a different world! All the costumes and cosplay, conversations that you never thought you’d overhear, the love and happiness that exudes from the attendees. Almost everyone is happy and they want to be there!

The hardest part is having enough toys already made to make the event financially worth it! There are only so many hours in the day in which I can sew and I’ve asked really nicely, but the powers that be, still won’t extend it to be a 36 hour day. They also haven’t turned the heat down in Queensland, despite my very polite requests!

Living and working as a creative and small businessperson in a regional town has its share of both pleasures and challenges, some of which are similar to those in the city but others quite different. What, for you, are the advantages and disadvantages of being regionally based? And if you had a magic wand, what would you change in terms of improving and/or highlighting the situation?

Oh boy! Settle in, this could take a while!

I hate bringing everything back to money, but it’s on the forefront of my mind at the moment — constantly actually.

To stay in business we need to make sales. It’s as simple as that. Or is it? To make the sales we need the stock, to be able to buy the stock or fabric or dragon fluff we need the money! But the money has been spent on rent, insurance, utilities and those boring things. So we need to make more to make more to make more… and it goes on and on. Now, most business people would run away screaming if they saw our sales figures vs outgoings. I’ve been tempted myself! But, as people keep telling me, they’ve never seen a business like ours. So I stay and I try. I try the same things and different things, I take on more work or new ideas to try to work out what will bring people down to the Mall (a pedestrian mall  in Armidale where our shop is) and once we have them in the Mall, how to get them into the shop!

Regional areas like Armidale are beautiful, relaxing and quiet. Sometimes too quiet! When tourists come to town, we do well, it’s changing the mindset of the locals that’s hard. Locals tend to have their routines, their standard way of shopping and Armidale has a reputation of not having anything that they want. When we can get them into the town and away from the shopping centre or the ease of online shopping, then they discover that there IS stuff in town. There are shops and different things to buy and explore.

Instead of a magic wand (because I do sell those and they don’t seem to work for me) could I have another tornado instead? And could it hit the big shopping centre in the middle of the night when there’s no one there to get hurt? No, not really, but I think one of the problems that the town has is that we’re not a big enough population to be able to support three different shopping districts. We’re too spread out for any of them to fully thrive, so removing one would force things back into the centre of town. Also, if they could remove timed parking from around the CBD, that would be great!

As a last note — thank you for inviting me to be part of this! These questions (and trying to think of answers) have reminded me of books that I need to reread, toys that I want to make, and given me new ideas on how to help my business!

If you’re visiting Armidale, make sure to visit Granny Fi’s Toy Cupboard! And if you can’t make it there, visit Granny Fi’s website to browse and order dragons, dolls, bears, books and original art, no matter where you are in Australia.

Leave a comment Posted on Authors, Book talk, creative process, Creative work, Interviews

Interview with Lorena Carrington about A Puzzling Pursuit

I’ve always been in awe of the extraordinary, multi-faceted talent of my lovely friend and fellow creator Lorena Carrington, with whom I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate on several works, including picture books (Satin and The Giant) two collections (French Fairy Tales and Magical Tales from French Camelot) and three productions in our joint Pardalote Press imprint (two books, Bird’s Eye View and Secrets of the Good-Fairy House and Wayfarer, a pack of myriorama storytelling cards). As well, in 2024 I was proud to have been involved in publishing Lorena’s first junior fiction title, Leaf Letters. And now, I’m thrilled to see Lorena’s new book, A Puzzling Pursuit (Penguin), which was officially released last week. A fabulous combination of mystery, puzzles and travel, the book features ten baffling cases around an overarching mystery, accompanied by a hundred illustrated puzzles to help you crack the cases, all within a breakneck race around Australia. It’s a fabulous book and a fabulous concept and I caught up with Lorena to find out more about it.

1.First of all, Lorena, congratulations on the publication of A Puzzling Pursuit! Can you tell us a bit about how it all came about?

Thank you! Like so many of my books and projects, I fell into working on this book from a bit of a sideways angle. It all started with Leaf Letters actually! I had heard that cryptic crossword writer Liam Runnalls had moved to town, and messaged him to ask if he’d like a copy of the book. I had name-checked him and David Astle in it very briefly. We caught up for coffee a couple times, and then he asked me to proofread (proof-solve?!) the puzzles in his book Birdle (https://www.penguin.com.au/books/birdle-9781761350429). That put me in contact with the delightful Ashwin Khurana at Penguin, and I’m afraid I harassed him until he suggested an Australian themed murder mystery puzzle book. I put together a proposal for them early last year, then spent six months frantically attempting to ‘walk the talk’ of all I had promised!

2. I know that you are a dedicated crossword and puzzle fan, not just as a reader/completer (if that’s a word! ) but also as a creator of them. What first drew you to them?

I’ve always loved puzzles, especially book related ones. As a kid I was obsessed with Graeme Base’s The Eleventh Hour (https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-eleventh-hour-a-curious-mystery-9780140541489), so much so that I’d start seeing little hidden mice in real life. And also Masquerade by Kit Williams. I also loved Rolf Heiman’s Maze books. As a adult, I fell in love with cryptic crosswords, and of course joined the Wordle craze along with everyone else in 2020. It’s still the first thing I do every morning – I currently have a 1223 day streak to uphold!

3.Did you have the whole concept for the book in mind from the beginning—the structure, characters, places etc?

This is the book that taught me I’m a plotter at heart. Everything had to be laid out carefully before I began. I wasn’t just plotting a (fictional) murder. I also had to plan out a realistic road trip that covered every single state and territory, create ten themed cases within that trip, and try and pack in as many Australian motifs and icons as I could. I created a very strict scaffolding for the whole book to fit in. Essentially one whole narrative, containing ten cases, each of which contain ten puzzles. They all had to flow together but also stand-alone. I was very grateful for all that planning work when it came to writing the story and creating the puzzles.

4. What was the process like—creating not only the stories but also the puzzles, and fitting everything together? What were the challenges, and high points? And did you work closely with editors from the start or create it all and then submit it for editing?

Once I finished all that plotting, all I had to do was to weave it together into a narrative that was interesting, made sense, and tied in with the 100 puzzles that I also then had to create and illustrate. Easy, right? 🙂 I had previously created a first chapter and outline for the book proposal, which was a great foundation to start from when it got the green light. With a pretty tight turn-around, I worked every single day without a break for about 5 months. I tried to keep up with creating the puzzles alongside the story as I wrote it, which meant I didn’t feel as overwhelmed by the work to come.

I’d say the biggest challenge was creating a good variety of puzzles that also fit into the story. I also didn’t do myself any favours by writing it in second person! Or by making sure the protagonist (you) and the antagonist (X) were free of any gender indicators. I wanted to make sure that ‘you’ were always you the reader. No only did I have to think about the actions of ‘you’ the character, but also everyone else’s reactions to them. Oh what a tangled web I wove for myself…

The upshot of all the previous planning is that I didn’t need a structural edit. After I handed in the manuscript, we went straight to a copy edit, which was such an incredibly joyful process. My brilliant editor picked up on so many things I hadn’t thought of, and whipped my timeline into shape. After that, Penguin brought in someone to check the puzzles, and then we did a couple of proofreads, and a little bit of revision on the layout, and we were done. There were way fewer tears than I expected with a project of this complexity!

Typing ‘The End’ was certainly a highpoint! I had taken myself away on a mini retreat to Ballarat, while my partner was there working on an exhibition. While he was off working hard, I sat on the B&B couch, drank copious amounts of tea and wrote for two days straight. Finishing a project is always satisfying, but this one felt particularly so! I loved every minute of working on it, but there were certainly times I wondered if I could pull it off.

5. Browsing in bookshops after I picked up my copy of your book, I noticed that there are quite a few popular titles around that combine mystery and puzzle types (such as Murdle etc). How do you think your book fits into that genre, and how does it differ from them?

Yes, Murdle is a real phenomenon isn’t it! My hope is that this book will capture that puzzle audience, and then hook them in with a story too. I think a big difference is that A Puzzling Pursuit is very narrative focused. Yes, the text carries you from puzzle to puzzle, but it’s not its only purpose. There’s a rollicking adventure in there, with side quests, drama, and hopefully plenty of humour. I intentionally created the book to appeal to a range of readers: the ones who are only there for the puzzles, those who would rather get involved in the story, and those who are in it for the whole experience! I hope everyone finds it a happy distraction.

6.I know it might be a bit early to ask—but I’ll ask it anyway 😊 What has been the response of readers to your book?

It’s a tiny bit early! 😁 Most of the responses have been ‘look I found it in a bookshop!’, with accompanying face-out photo which is always so exciting! Not many people have had the chance to start it yet, let alone finish it. Though I have already received my first ‘correction’ – and it probably won’t be the last. The great thing about puzzle people is their attention to detail!

7. Are you planning to write more in this genre? And what else are you working on?

I would love to create more books like this! I’m playing with a couple of puzzle book ideas, including a possible sequel to A Puzzling Pursuit. But I’m also diving back into kids’ books with a middle grade novel I’ve been working on for a while. I’m on the home stretch, so having a great time writing the final scenes full of drama – and sea monsters! There’s a good chance I’ll sneak a few puzzles in there too. 🙂

Leave a comment Posted on audio resource, Creative work, fairy tales, folk tales, France, Readings

The Queen of the Korrigans on Read Me A Story Ink

I am delighted to announce that the wonderful Robert Topp, who runs the fabulous website and podcast Read Me A Story Ink, has just recorded a reading of my retelling and adaptation of the beautiful Breton fairytale, ‘The Queen of the Korrigans’, and it’s now available both to listen to and read (and both together, if you like). Bob’s clear warm narration is absolutely pitch-perfect, as is the music he’s chosen to highlight the story. Hope you enjoy!

The Queen of the Korrigans was first published in French Fairy Fairy Tales, my collection, with illustrator Lorena Carrington, of newly-translated and retold fairy tales from France. Bob has also recorded another story from that collection, The Booted Cat (my new translation and retelling of Charles Perrault’s famous tale, most often known in English as Puss in Boots).

Illustration below copyright Lorena Carrington, from ‘the Queen of the Korrigans’ in French Fairy Tales.

Leave a comment Posted on Creative life, Creative work, forthcoming books, France, Picture books

Catch up with Cheryl Orsini and her glorious artwork

When I was in Sydney last week, I caught up with the wonderful Cheryl Orsini, my co-creator on The Fishmonger and the Pastry Chef–she created the glorious visual world of the book. Cheryl brought along her original artwork for the book, and explained how she creates scenes in layers–it was absolutely fascinating and so stunning! I took heaps of photos–have a look at these.

Leave a comment Posted on Book talk, Creative work

About dedications in books–my post on Writer Unboxed

My most recent post on Writer Unboxed is about the dedications in books, and it was fun writing it and going down the rabbit hole of research to do so! Here’s a short extract:

Some writers have it in mind from the beginning, for others it might be last-minute addition, prompted by a publisher’s question or a sudden impulse. To dedicate or not to dedicate—that is the question.

Dedications in books are certainly very common. Of the seven books on my bedside TBR pile, for example, just two lack a dedication. One of these features an epigraph instead, a line from a poem which expresses something at the heart of the book, and the other has no dedication at all. The dedications in the other five books are all personal, addressed to important people in the author’s life, which are in fact the most common kinds of dedications. Occasionally, though, you might see a more general type of dedication, in the vein of ‘to all those who have been there’.  And it’s not just a modern thing—dedications in books have been common for hundreds of years. They started as statements of gratitude to patrons—for example, Shakespeare’s famous, enigmatic dedication for the Sonnets (though some say it wasn’t Shakespeare but the publisher who wrote the dedication). Or even further back, 12th century French writer Chrétien de Troyes’ dedication of his extraordinary seminal work, Le chevalier de la charrette (the Knight of the Cart), which simultaneously launched the character of Lancelot, a massive craze for Arthurian romance, and, for a francophone like me, the birth of the novel (‘roman’ being ‘novel; in French). Chrétien dedicated the work to his patron, Marie de Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, writing it as a graceful, sprightly poem which cleverly manages to avoid outright flattery, and a light touch that combines humor and gratitude. (If you read French, you can see it here.)

But from at least the 19th century, book dedications tended to be more personal. Looking up some famous book dedications as I was preparing to write this post, I found some that were basically mini-letters to family members or friends, such as CS Lewis’ affectionate message to his god-daughter Lucy in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and John Steinbeck’s touching letter, for East of Eden, to a friend who was also his editor. Others, like PG Wodehouse’s rather acidly humorous dedication to his daughter Leonora, were like a mini-version of the author’s characteristic style, or more surprising in their form, like Carl Sagan’s lovely, poetic tribute to his wife Annie. Although never as popular as personal dedications, general dedications also started to become more common in the 20th century and beyond. For example, Agatha Christie wrote a tongue-in-cheek dedication of The Secret Adversary to ‘all those who lead monotonous lives.’  She also wrote many personal dedications, and you can read a compilation here).  Jack Kerouac wrote a pithily disillusioned dedication, ‘To America, whatever that is’, in his book, Visions of Cody. If you’re interested in reading about more famous book dedications and their backgrounds, this oldie-but-goodie article from the New York Times in 1982, is worth a look.

You can read the whole post, and comments on it, here.

Leave a comment Posted on announcements, Book talk, collaborations, Creative work, Fiction, forthcoming books, memoir, Pardalote Press

Advance copies of Secrets of the Good Fairy House!

It’s always exciting when you get those first advance copies of a new book–it’s a magic moment when you get to hold the real-life book in your hands! This week, copies of my new book with the wonderful illustrator Lorena Carrington, Secrets of the Good Fairy House, arrived at my place and to say I was delighted with how it looks is an understatement 🙂 It is truly gorgeous, in fact!

Here’s the blurb:

Secrets of the Good Fairy House is a unique exploration of how a beloved childhood house can grant not only a treasury of rich memories, but also spark imaginative childhood adventures, and future creative inspiration. Created by award-winning author Sophie Masson and acclaimed illustrator Lorena Carrington, this beautiful book is an interwoven mix of memoir and fiction in both text and images, taking you on a fascinating journey into a very special magic.

The book is published by our very own ‘tiny press’, Pardalote Press, and distributed nationwide through Peribo, so you can buy or order it from any bookshop. It will be officially out in June.

(by the way, the framed photo in the pic below is of the ‘good fairy house’ of my childhood in France, which was the inspiration for my part of the book)

Leave a comment Posted on adult fiction, announcements, Art, Book talk, Creative work, forthcoming books, Inspirations, memoir, Pardalote Press

Announcing the new Pardalote Press production!

I’m absolutely delighted to announce the forthcoming arrival of the new Pardalote Press production, my latest collaboration with the wonderful Lorena Carrington!

It’s a beautiful little book titled Secrets of the Good Fairy House, which will be out at the beginning of June and distributed nationally through our distributor Peribo. Below you can see the book’s gorgeous front and back covers which Lorena created, as well as the lovely page Peribo have for the book in their June catalogue.

Secrets of the Good Fairy House is a unique exploration in words and images of the magic a beloved childhood home can confer on people, through its sheer atmosphere and the objects in it too. Both in words and images, it’s a mix of memoir–about my childhood home in rural France and Lorena’s in regional Victoria–and fiction, to create what we hope will be an enticing, imaginative blend. Each page features a space or an object or an aspect of the good fairy house, and, as well,  there are interactive elements at the end: an encouragement to create memory maps(with ours as samples), ideas on how to use the ideas and concepts in the book to create your own exploration of your own ‘good fairy house’, and a maze game, for a bit of fun 🙂 We absolutely loved creating this unique little book, and we hope many readers will take it to their hearts too. It’s for a general audience, for adults as well as younger readers, and makes a great gift too.

Secrets of the Good Fairy House is a beautiful small square book of 48 pages, in full colour, retailing at $25.  The ISBN is 9780645563429. It will be available in all good bookshops across Australia, and can also be pre-ordered, via your local bookshop, or directly via our website.