Page 37 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
‘Massive. I loved reading but it was Pia who turned it into a real passion.’ He stood up, the book clutched between both hands, a gentle smile on his lips. ‘I can’t believe you’ve got a copy. You know, I read this book to her so many times I could probably have recited it word for word without looking at the pages. But when she died?—’
‘She died?’ I asked, my stomach lurching at the unexpected revelation. No wonder he’d been crying.Anna and the Snow Dragonevidently held both happy and sad memories for him.
Lars nodded. ‘Born prematurely, lungs never fully developed, battle with asthma all her life and a fatal asthma attack when she was seven.’
Seven years old? I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Lars and his family must have gone through to lose someone so young.
‘Oh, my God! Lars! I’m so sorry.’
‘Thanks.’ He gave me a weak smile before glancing down at the book once more and running his fingers over the cover image. ‘I don’t know what happened to her copy. Over the years, I’ve toyed with buying one for myself but it’s out of print and I’ve never found anywhere that stocks it. But even if I had found a copy somewhere, a pristine one wouldn’t be the same as the well-thumbed copy Pia had.’
‘You never checked our website?’
‘I did, but it’s not on there.’
‘Isn’t it? That’s strange. I could have sworn all the books we stock are on there.’
‘Anna and Jónas – that’s the name of the snow dragon – must have slipped through the net. It was such a surprise to find it here and I couldn’t resist flicking through it but, well, this is what happens…’ He pointed to his face, acknowledging the tears that had dried on his cheeks.
‘An emotional moment for you.’
‘Caught me unawares. Anyway, I’d better put it back.’
I wanted to tell him he could keep the book but doing so would suggest that I hadn’t heard him when he’d said a pristine copy wouldn’t be the same. Although hehadsaid he’d looked for it… Given that Lars had ended the conversation and turned away from me, I imagined he needed a few moments to compose himself so I retrieved the vacuum cleaner and returned to the front of the shop.
As I vacuumed, I kept picturing his face and the tears tracking down his cheeks. I loved the way he’d owned his emotions, not even making the slightest attempt to disguise his tears. He’d spoken about his sister and her love for books with such warmth and my heart broke for his loss. Should I have gifted him the book? No. It wasn’t my place to do that. It had triggered a powerful emotional reaction in him and it was up to him to decide whether he wanted it or not. If he brought it to the till, I’d happily give it to him for free, but it wasn’t my place to put any pressure on him to take it home.
* * *
‘You’re sure you’re okay?’ I asked Lars as I unlocked the front door for him to leave shortly after closing time.
‘It wasn’t how I was expecting the afternoon to go, but I’m fine. It happens from time to time – this wave of emotion suddenly hits me and there’s nothing I can do to stop it so I just go with it and it’s usually cathartic. I’m just glad there weren’t any customers around. Mind you, if there had been, I wouldn’t have been sitting there reading a book. You’re sure you don’t mind me doing that?’
‘I’m sure. Although if you’d broken the spine and folded over the pages, we’d be having a very different conversation.’
He laughed at my stern teacher tone. ‘I’ll see you on Friday. Have a good day off tomorrow and I hope your dad’s operation goes well.’
I pulled the door wide for him and he opened up his golf umbrella as he stepped out. Locking the door behind him, I wandered through to the children’s section, removedAnna and the Snow Dragonfrom the shelf, sat down on the same chair Lars had used earlier, and opened the first page.
When I reached the end, I returned to the beginning and read it through a second time, pausing on each page to study the illustrations more closely. Closing the book for a second time, I blinked back tears. What a gorgeous story about friendship, kindness and celebrating differences. Anna was an Icelandic girl who the other children laughed at because of her pure white hair and she befriended Jónas, a white dragon who the other dragons ostracised because they were all red like the fire in the volcanos, blue like the ocean, or green like the land. Anna helped Jónas see how special he was by pointing out that he was the colour of the snow – snow being as important a part of the island as the earth, fire and water. The revelation was the making of Jónas and he told Anna that, as she also had beautiful white hair, she was obviously part of his family and incredibly special too. The pair of them then flew round Iceland finding children and animals who felt different and helping them to celebrate instead of hiding from their uniqueness. Published twenty-nine years ago, the message was just as relevant today.
The author was unfamiliar to me and I was fairly sure we didn’t have any other titles by her. It could be that she’d only written the one book but it was equally possible we simply hadn’t stocked other titles. I hadn’t yet closed the system down so I took the book to the till and checked whether Lars was right about it being out of print. He was and a quick search revealed there’d been no further titles released by that author.
I was fascinated by how the publishing industry worked and, through conversations with Granny Blue and a host of other authors I’d met through events at Bay Books, had gained considerable insights into the author/publisher relationship. Authors who only ever had one book published particularly intrigued me so I hopped onto the Internet to see if I could find any explanation for Sigrid Hansen stopping after one release.
The first result revealed that Sigrid was an Icelandic author and illustrator who’d moved to the UK when she was twenty-two to study a Master’s in Creative Writing, had met her husband shortly after, and had been poised to publish the first of two contracted picture books at the age of thirty-one through leading children’s book publisher Whispering Fox Books. Three months before the launch, Sigrid and her husband were tragically killed in a helicopter crash while on holiday celebrating their wedding anniversary, leaving behind a five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. There’d been a big launch planned forAnna and the Snow Dragonincluding lots of personal appearances so, while Whispering Fox Books still honoured the book’s release, it understandably had to be a much softer launch. Book two, for which there’d been chatter about soft toy tie-ins, had only been a work in progress at the time of Sigrid’s death and the publisher hadn’t seen any pages. Book one therefore didn’t get the success it deserved and book two never saw the light of day.
‘That’s so sad,’ I murmured, shaking my head. I was about to close the system down when an entry lower down in the search results caught my eye. Clicking into it took me to a website belonging to Sigrid Hansen’s daughter, Eva, and I smiled as I read the latest news post. It seemed that Eva and her brother, Axel, had been raised by their paternal grandparents. After their granddad passed away, their grandma decided to move into sheltered accommodation and, while helping her pack, the siblings found several boxes full of their parents’ belongings in the attic, which they’d known nothing about. Among them was a notebook containing the completed manuscript for their mum’s second book, notebooks containing a further two partially written stories as well as ideas for two more and a portfolio full of illustrations – some complete and others just rough sketches. They’d approached Whispering Fox Books, hoping they’d posthumously publish the second book while knowing it was a long shot. Several months later, the siblings were invited to the publisher’s head office. A new editor had read the full series and believed the messages were strong and relevant for today’s children. They wanted to relaunch book one on the thirtieth anniversary of its original publication, follow it up with the other three books Sigrid had written and potentially the additional two ideas if the first four sold well. They’d do the merchandise tie-ins originally planned and, as Eva and Axel were talented artists themselves, Whispering Fox Books wanted them to finish the illustrations their mother had started. The relaunch had been confirmed for September next year.
Bursting with excitement at what I’d found, I composed an email to Lars and added in the website link.
To: Lars Jóhannsson
From: Lily Appleton
Date: 5 November
Subject: Fascinating Discovery
