It was lovely to see you and Annabel for tea last week, you made me giggle to myself when I took you indoors and you sighed a big sigh, and said "Oh, I DO so love this house, GiGi."
Well, this week I've been working on the illustrations for Annabel's book- and following your exclamation- I think we shall make the Looking Glass house in the story look more like this house than anything else. So, here's a draft of the cover- I hope Annabel will like it.
Lewis Carroll's Looking-Glass world revealed cariacatures of the people he knew, particularly at Freshwater Bay. In your little book Emily, we uncovered some of them, and discovered Carroll's ruse.
So, for Annabel's book, we are having some fun with this formula.
We shall be taking Through the Looking Glass, chapter by chapter- changing the characters, but keeping the thread of the tale.
If we introduce a bit of Dante's Inferno- by turning our lovely Macracarpa into The Purgatree (that's a kind of naughty step Em- but a bit darker) where grown-ups go when they are being negative. There they come up against themselves, and choose the way out. If they don't Em- if they stay there too long- the Harpy will get them and peck out their eyes so they'll never see truthful beauty again.
Dark enough Em?
Let's have a clever Storm-cat- sort of like a white witch's familiar- who leads the rather slow-on-the uptake cleaner (GiGi) through the story where she meets some rather peculiar characters.
In our own bit of nonsense Emily, let's stray from Carroll's path, and give the story a moral.
Let's decide that if we choose to listen in life, we shall hear what there is to be done.
Let's also decide that what we listen to may take us down extraordinary paths, but that all we need to do is take one step at a time.
Let's decide too, that if we have to go to the naughty step of the Purgatree- it may bring us up against ourselves- but, that is a good thing- and we can choose how to come out. No Harpies can close our eyes then.
And finally, let's realise that a sense of fun- a sense of humour- is a very precious gift- and that we are all grotesques in the Looking-Glass world, naked to those that can see...BUT that if we can accept and live with that too?
Then, Em, we can know that to laugh, and know nonsense, means that the absurd and the ridiculous- become quite the best way to see and be seen!
I shall now work away at putting the rest of Annabel's book together so she can have it in time for her first birthday.
Your ever-loving Grand-mother, GiGi xxxx
