Shiny Star Leonora

Shiny Star Leonora

A busy, loud morning of conversation at the A14 Coffee morning. Clelia turned to me. “My mother’s writing a book…” was the start of a conversation that led to meeting Gloria Loring, skilled sculptor, beautifully expressive painter and enchanting writer.

We tended to have excited conversations over Skype between Cambridge and Spain. Now, I have a soft spot for magical and fantastical stories, so I fell in love with Star Child Leonora immediately when I read the script for this short story.

Leonora is a star who parts the clouds and wants to visit the beautiful garden she sees below. With her father’s permission, she alights a raindrop to come down and visit. There is beauty and there is death. But as a star, she can return and try again until she truly understands who she is.

Leonora parted the clouds

It was planned to be illustrated, so inevitably, there was a sense of caution about what might be coming my way. The first photo that came through blew away any reservations – I wish I could paint like Gloria!

Initially we had a set of five or six paintings. When setting the book, it evolved into facing pages of short text and a painting. Inevitably, there were a few parts of the story where more images where needed.

“Er, Gloria. Do you think you could do an additional painting or two?” Gloria agreed and I settled down to work on another book for a couple of weeks or so.

Except Gloria was back within a couple of days with an e-mail and more pictures. Full in the creative flow, ideas were rushing from thought to brush to canvas.

Asking the snakes 

The hardest part was waiting for the book to come back from the printer.

Last Friday, I came back from a hard days networking to find a package waiting for me. Inside was a beautiful 40 page book with 20 illustrations, for children from age 9 to 90 and beyond.

And Gloria? Even before receiving her copies of the book, she is well into the next one – about Leonora’s sister. I cannot wait to learn more!

This is a very limited first edition (less than 40 copies remaining). Visit http://miltoncontact.co.uk/shinystarleonora to order.

Author of Shiny Star Leonora,
Gloria Loring