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Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Cover Reveal: The Last Rabbit

What can I say about this book?  

There is an adorable rabbit on the cover—but this book isn’t about rabbits—not really.

 It’s about mistakes and hope and determination. It’s about guilt and redemption. It’s about sisters and magic and the magic of sisters. It’s about everything that lives in my heart.

 You see, when you are writing, there are some books that break you.  They leave little pieces of you behind—that’s all that is left of you after you’ve wrangled them into place. By the end, you doubt everything you’ve ever known about yourself as a writer. The story didn’t mean to destroy you, but hey…

And then there are books that save you. Books that let you put your whole heart and soul into them. Books that let you play with your ideas about yourself and the world. Books that let you risk everything to write them.

THE LAST RABBIT saved me. I was in a place where I was very doubtful I’d write another novel. Poetry still called to me to write picture books, but as much as I longed to write another middle grade, the books I tried to write were trying to break me. I can blame the books, of course. It’s easier that way. But the truth of it is that I was trying to write like a writer that I wasn’t. I was afraid of my method (haha—what method?). So I wrote things that I tried to make work. I tried so hard. But they didn't work out for me so well.

And so, I don’t even remember how I got interested in Hy-Brasil. It’s a Celtic legend, so sometimes that’s all it takes for me. And I read a report that the last visitor to have supposedly landed on this this vanishing island encountered a magician and some large rabbits.

Curious, those rabbits.

“I wasn’t always a rabbit, that much I can tell you.”

That was the first line that came to me. And thus, Albie’s tale begins.


Albie’s story was a joy to write—but I warn you that not everything that happens is joyous. There is heartbreak as well as laughter—because isn’t there always? Within the pages of Albie’s adventures, I allowed my imagination free reign—often having no idea what I’d written the day before when I’d sit down for an evening of Albie and her sisters.  I just gave myself over to story and, well, it saved me. 

Learning to trust a story again---that is perhaps the most magical feeling ever. 

So, here she is:




And here is her pre-order link:



I can't wait to share this book with you. It is the most magical thing I've written.

xoxo--

hrh

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