Here’s the beautiful cover for Mother Thorn, my book of fairy tale-based short stories, to be published by Serenity Press in November 2020. Isn’t it wonderful! I was so excited when Kathleen Jennings, the award-winning Brisbane illustrator, agreed to do the art work for this book. I can’t wait to see a finished copy!
For those who haven’t been following the news on my Facebook author page, Mother Thorn is quite a short book containing four stories. Three of them are based on known fairy tales (The Well of the World’s End; The Princess and the Pea; The Tinder Box) and the fourth is built around a snippet of folklore. They are not re-tellings of the original stories, but a combination of the source material with quite a bit of my own imagination. This is not a book for small children – the language is not simple, and a couple of the stories have some dark moments. It should be a good read for about age 12+, including adult readers who love folklore and fairy tales. Kathleen’s magical art work will enhance the book all the way through.
On the left side of the cover we have Katrin, the soldier from my story Copper, Silver, Gold. This is my version of The Tinder Box, and it grew from my idea that if the soldier in that fairy tale had been female, things might have worked out rather differently! On the right side of the cover is Lara, the central character from The Witching Well, my take on The Well of the World’s End (related to various frog prince stories.) You’ll note a very characterful toad following Lara. Their relationship is complicated.
In the collection you’ll also find a story named Pea Soup, which may be my favourite, and the title story, Mother Thorn, based on the idea that a lone hawthorn tree is a place where human and fairy worlds are especially close. Mother Thorn is a story about being careful what you wish for, and about second chances.
I’ll post more on this as we move closer to publication. I’m sure Kathleen will have more art work to share later, and we will put pre-order information up as soon as it is available. There will be both a hardcover and a softcover edition.
