If the central buyers at Waterstone's or WHSmith select our green-covered book, Boris the Boastful Frog, then we'll have made a great start, but then there are all the little independent bookshops up and down the country that we need to reach too. We could do a few mass mail-shots and advertise in The Bookseller - and no doubt we will try this - but what we really need is the personal touch - a reputable sales company that will take on our list.

We've heard good reports from book shop owners about Bounce, which claims to represent '30 of the best children's publishers from the UK and beyond' so I emailed publishing manager Danielle Quinn to see if I could set up a meeting. Bounce may only offer us sales representation on a book-by-book basis, which is not ideal, but if they help us to sell a million then we won't complain.

I also called Roy Johnston at Aurum Publishing Group Children’s Books (APG-Kids), which now owns Frances Lincoln (producer of some beautiful children's books), and which sells on behalf of third-party companies.

Roy was one of the first people we met when we started up in publishing - at the time he worked at Ragged Bears (which went into administration this Feb) and we were thinking about using RB to distribute and sell our books and book rights. Back then, we decided not to go down the sales agent route.

Roy remembered us. He was very friendly and we've set up a meeting in London for May 14.

Talking of the personal touch, I decided to follow up yesterday's email with a visit to Sara at WHSmith in Guildford. (I was meeting two friends for coffee and needed an excuse to go into town). Sara was on the shop floor, carrying out an audit, but didn't seem too fazed by my unscheduled visit. I quickly showed her the book and she seemed to like it. Sara said that she'd give some thought as to how we could promote it - perhaps linking up with a couple of local schools that the branch had ties with.

For the last week, we've had the pleasure in hosting a student from a local school (Broadwater in Godalming) - as part of their work placement scheme. He provided excellent help throughout the week and hopefully he gained a good overview of publishing.  He gave me these beautiful flowers as a thank you for his time here - but the thanks should really go to him.

This blog describes the quest of a small independent publisher to sell one million copies of Boris the Boastful Frog to disprove the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell:  

- Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
- Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000

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When trying to sell books (especially if we are to sell a million of Boris the Boastful Frog), then we must target the big high street names - Waterstone's and WHSmith.

Both select books for their branches centrally and the buyers will be choosing only a handful from the thousands being submitted each year.  Statistically, the chances of being selected are pretty slim.  The book buyer (quire rightly) will be looking out for new titles from Walker books, Frances Lincoln and other more established publishers and the worry is that our titles could just disappear amongst a pile of "others I may look at if I have the time".  However I'm convinced that Boris the Boastful Frog is a strong story and I believe we're in with a good chance.

I tried a 'scatter gun' approach with WHSmith, emailing AI sheets for all the new titles and a low-res pdf of Boris to four names in the central team. Three bounced back, but the fourth reached the Head of Children's Books, who said she'd pass the info over to the Children's Picture Book Buyer, adding, 'If we think the books would work for our range, we'll be in touch'. Hmm... doesn't sound terribly promising, still fingers crossed that the Buyer likes them.

Waterstone's was a little easier. Once the Waterstone's grid had been updated (a spreadsheet detailing our titles), we posted off our latest four books, including Boris, directly to the relevant new title buyer. We now have only three advance copies of each left to last us until mid May so we'll need to use them wisely.

Books parcelled up and ready to go

Both WHSmith and Waterstone's branches can stock books by local authors/illustrators, which in the case of Boris meant contacting the shops in Bath (close to where Steve Cox the illustrator lives) and Guildford.

I emailed Sara, children's manager at the Guildford WHSmith, who in the past has been very supportive of us (as a local publisher). My contact at Guildford Waterstone's had moved on so I emailed the manager details of the book. I was assured that all staff read the 'manager@waterstones...' emails so I took the same approach in Bath.

WHSmith in Bath said that all buying decisions were made 'above' so nothing doing there. Instead, whilst I was in the area (metaphorically speaking), I called a couple of independent bookshops Topping Books and Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights. The children's book buyers at both were friendly and Victoria at Topping was keen that the illustrator (Steve Cox) signed a few copies should she like the book (I'm sure she will!)

Sadly, there are no independent bookshops in Guildford, but there is soon to be a Waitrose which may sell a few books.  I emailed details of Boris and our other three new titles to the central children's buyer there too.

This blog describes the quest of a small independent publisher to sell one million copies of Boris the Boastful Frog to disprove the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell:  

- Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
- Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000

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A good step towards selling a million books (and disproving the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell*) would be to persuade the supermarket chains to take the book as a stock item, so...

1. I've emailed ASDA with the details of Boris (as well as our other three new titles). Asda's corporate colour is green so I'm hoping its buyers won't be put off by the cover. 
2. I've already emailed details of our latest books to Tesco and received a friendly response from Sophie Wood-Goulbourn, but she works with adults books, so I'm waiting to see if her colleague in the children's team will get back to me.
3. On the advice of Alan Street at Gardners, I've drafted a letter to Morrisons children's book buyer. Morrisons doesn't give out buyers' email addresses so instead of emailing pdfs we've had to part with one of the only five advance copies of Boris in the country. It will be worth it, though, if the buyer likes the story.
4. I've also already emailed Sainsbury's with details of the books and made a follow up phone call. I've been promised feedback, but so far I've heard nothing. I'm guessing that no news is bad news, but if I'm going to sell a million, I'll need to persevere.
5. I ran out of steam so will try Waitrose tomorrow.

This blog describes the quest of a small independent publisher to sell one million copies of Boris the Boastful Frog to disprove the theory that a book with a green cover won't sell:  

- Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
- Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000

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When I say 'green' books, I mean books with green-coloured covers, not books about recycling or saving the planet.

However this isn't my view, it's the view of Maverick's Steve Bicknell, who we met up with at the London Book Fair. Amidst our general chat about the plight of the independent book publisher, he came up with this bald statement in relation to one of our upcoming titles - Boris the Boastful Frog (understandably a green book). His colleague Kimara pointed out that both The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo are green and, as we all know, have sold in the millions, but Steve was adamant that this colour was a no no.

Perhaps there's some truth in Steve's book-cover theory, but I like green and I like Boris (the book not the frog) so it's a theory I'd like to disprove - and the way to disprove it? Sell a million copies of course.

So for the next few months I'll be using this blog to chart the attempts of a relatively unknown and very small children's book publisher to sell a million copies of a green book. If we succeed, we'll sit down with Steve and Kimara over a magnum of Champagne. And if we fail? The next edition of Boris will feature a pink frog on the cover (and we'll be drinking shandy).

Copies sold to date - 0 (not yet published)
Copies still to sell - 1, 000, 000

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Hi guys. Just a quick one to let you all know that our book Three Silly Chickens , written and illustrated by Tanya Fenton, has been reviewed in the most recent issue of the School Librarian journal. The review, written by Jane Doonan, is very positive, and describes the story as an 'amusing take on a folk tale convention ... dramatised on the page by a fine sense of page design.' 

A link to the Amazon page for the book can be found below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Silly-Chickens-Tanya-Fenton/dp/1907432116

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?


In Gateshead, Carol Thorn of Bill Quay Bookshop, chose an elemental phenomena for her most beautiful sight - a complete, circular rainbow:

‘It was incredibly beautiful - like a coloured halo in the sky. Usually you only see an arc because the rest of the rainbow disappears beyond the horizon, but up in the hills where I used to live I was high enough to see the whole thing.

‘When I first saw it, I was like a child. I ran indoors and told my husband, “just come and look at this!” I hadn’t realised until then that rainbows were circles, but it explains why they never have an end. For me this realisation, far from spoiling the mystery, somehow made the whole thing even more beautiful.’

If you've always wondered how rainbows are formed, there is a simple explanation here including a description of the circumstances in which Carol's full rainbow can be observed. It also includes this simple diagram showing white light from the sun refracting as it passes into a water droplet before reflecting back against the back surface of the droplet to make it visible to the observer. Depending on the position of the observer, he or she will only see one colour emerging from any single droplet but as he or she glances up or down he or she will see bands of light emerging from millions of neighbouring droplets.

For a more detailed explanation about the formation of rainbows visit here which includes Descartes' experiment to understand what happened inside the water droplet.

René Descartes' sketch of how primary and secondary rainbows are formed (courtesy Wikipedia)

As it happens, one of our published titles Bella's Bubble by Karen Hodgson features a rainbow - but one with a more supernatural and at the same time more physical form.  In the story, Bella is chasing a giant bubble which ends up bouncing off the magical rainbow before it eventually lands splat on her grandmother's nose.

Bella's Bubble - by Karen Hodgson and illustrated by Rebecca Griffiths

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Aileen Davis of Appleby’s Bookshop in Morpeth couldn't choose between two sights which she felt were the most beautiful she'd seen: the orchids in Singapore (the walkways across the roads, she says, are ‘festooned’ with them)  and the aerial view of New Zealand as you approach Auckland Airport.

‘I was on holiday in NZ three years ago and as the plane came into land, I looked out of the window and on this clear day glimpsed the entire coastline, including the volcano at the other end of the island. I haven’t seen anything more beautiful.’

Singaporean Orchids

But before you decide to jump on a plane to the Far East, Stephanie Ellison would argue that you should to take a trip to the North East and visit Seven Stories Bookshop in Newcastle:

‘In the attic on level 7 of our shop is an art installation by illustrator/author Oliver Jeffers. It’s very beautiful. I’m sure that everyone in the shop would agree that it’s the most beautiful thing they’ve seen. There are books hanging from the ceiling, and books at all different levels - it’s a sight to behold.’

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Jude Innes of J&G Innes bookshop in St Andrews believes that when it comes to a beautiful sight, you can’t beat ‘a good sunset’. In particular she recalls one she saw over the North West Island in Australia. ‘In 1988, while on holiday in Australia, I visited the area and saw the deserted island in the middle of an oyster sky - it was a very beautiful sight.’ If you don’t know what an oyster sky is (I didn’t), Jude explains: ‘it’s where the clouds are all broken up and the sky takes on a peachy hue’.

Whilst the sunset below doesn't show an oyster sky, it is a photograph from North West Island by Kristy Muir which she describes as the most beautiful place she has ever visited: Head north-west for beauty | Sunshine Coast Daily

North West Island Australia

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

We asked children's author Marion Clark what the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen: "I was lucky enough when I was very much younger to be in Banff, Canada with friends. One winter's night we all went to Lake Louise to visit the ice sculptures that had been made on top of the frozen lake. We trooped through drifts of snow, and found houses, cabins and sleighs made from ice blocks. The night sky was clear and we put on our skates and took to the frozen lake, we were skating around listening to the mighty glacier creak and groan when suddenly the night sky was lit up with the aurora borealis, it was a luminous display, alive with shimmering colours that danced across the sky. I was left with a feeling of complete and utter amazement at one of nature's most beautiful wonders, and if I shut my eyes I can see it all again."

Aurora borealis photographed by Robert Postma

Marion is the author of the Croc on the Rock which is being published by Hogs Back Books next year: 

"I was watching a nature programme where this one crocodile was trying to snap at all the animals on the banks of the river. I found it rather cruel and thought wouldn't it be nice if they could all be friends instead - and that's how the idea popped into my head. "The story evolved as I began to think that being a nasty crocodile must be rather lonely."

The Croc on the Rock by Marion Clark and Tanya Fenton (to be published next year)

The book has been wonderfully illustrated by Tanya Fenton who also wrote and illustrated The Three Silly Chickens. Describing Tanya's work, Marion continued:  

"I think that Tanya Fenton is an extraordinary illustrator, she has captured Croc perfectly, his features, actions and reactions. She has completely brought the story to life with her lively and detailed drawings."

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?


Abi Truelove who is part of our wider team at Hogs Back Books and currently editing some of our forthcoming titles, told us about what she finds beautiful:

"My most beautiful thing doesn't involve glamour, exotic scenery or a foreign location. It's a very homely and simple thing: my guinea-pigs enjoying their favourite snack - a dandelion leaf. The snack is free and easy to provide for them, and to see pets you love enjoy a simple treat as much as they enjoy the leaves makes me smile every time."

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. Take a look at yesterday's online coverage in the Guildford Magazine to find out what it says about The King Who wanted More, Hogs Back Books and this blog:



Quest for the perfect Christmas gift - Guildford, Farnham & Woking Magazines

What is the most beautiful thing you have seen? It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different. 
Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com with something beautiful if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Anne Cole of Ship Quay Books in Londonderry saw her most beautiful sight from the top of Mount Athos on the Greek island of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea.

‘It was absolutely fabulous. I could see the whole area for miles and could imagine the same scene, unchanged, back in the time of Homer. It was something that will stick in my mind forever.’

Kathy Twynan at The Winding Stair Bookshop in Dublin chose Monet’s Blue Water Lilies as her most beautiful sight. 

Claude Monet - Image from Musee d'Orsay

‘When I was 17, I visited the Musee D’Orsay in Paris and saw its collection of Monet’s paintings. The colours, light  and atmosphere captured in the Blue Waterlilies have stayed with me.’

In Omagh, Alison McDermot at Carlisle Bookshop said that she found ‘anything of God’s creation beautiful’, but singled out a ladybird.

‘Ladybirds are so delicate and their colours are so vivid. It’s a pity that I don’t see as many of them around as I did when I was a young girl.’







Clearly Omagh has not been hit by the Asian ‘Harlequin ladybird’ epidemic, which reached England in 2004 and, according to a report in The Telegraph (January 12, 2012), is increasing at a rate of 100km a year and resulting in a decline in Britain’s native smaller ladybird population.


To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?


Over the last few days we have spoken to a number of different bookshops in the North West, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in our search for the most beautiful thing (we'll be posting more of our findings tomorrow).

At the Lexicon Bookshop on the Isle of Man, booksellers Moira Ashworth and Katie Burns had completely different ideas of beauty. For Moira, her most beautiful sight is her engagement ring:

‘It belonged to my husband’s grandmother and was passed down to him. When he proposed, he showed it to me and asked, “would you like it?”. The ring is old-fashioned. It’s a ruby with two diamonds on either side and everyone admires it. For me it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen.’

Katie’s most beautiful thing, on the other hand, is her tortoiseshell cat Tinker:

‘I think all cats are beautiful, but Tinker is the most beautiful because she’s mine.’

Natasha McEvilly of Pritchards Bookshop in Crosby, Merseyside had also been smitten by a cat - but one much larger in scale:

‘The most beautiful thing I’ve seen is a white tiger at the Rancho Texas Park Zoo on Lanzarote. It had the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen and, although I’m 24, I felt like a child, I was so excited to see it. 

‘You hear that these animals exist, but it’s completely different seeing them close up and in the flesh. I saw the tiger from a walkway with a glass panel and was able to sit down right beside it on the other side of the glass.’

Is the tiger more beautiful than a mog? Natasha joins Sue (from the Hunting Raven Bookshop in Frome) in believing so (see this link  to our earlier post).

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Over the last couple of days we've tried to contact a number of religious leaders, hoping that they might have an interesting perspective on beauty. Lambeth Palace told us that Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams was very busy - no doubt in the wake of the General Synod of the Church of England voting against the appointment of women as bishops - but we hope he may find time to come back to us before Christmas. We also sent messages to the Archbishop of Winchester, Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We have also tried to contact the Head Imam at the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, which is close to our offices in Guildford and was the first purpose built mosque in the UK. We are hopeful for (but not expecting) a reply from them all.


We've also been continuing to speak to a number of bookshops. Italy is continuing to score highly on the beauty stakes, as Kate Chesterton, book buyer at Broadhursts in Southport cited the view across the Bay of Naples to Vesuvius as her most beautiful sight.

‘I was on the cliff tops at St Agnello, near Sorrento, looking across the Bay to the dark shape of the volcano in the distance. It was a wonderful view in itself, but there was also a misty, twilight light which made it even more lovely. But it wasn’t just the beauty before me, but the thought in my head that I was lucky enough to see this beautiful place that made the moment special.’

Wales is also featuring strongly as a beautiful place.  Bethan Davies, of the Victoria Bookshop in Haverford West, described her visit Llanbedr beach in mid North Wales last September:

‘It was a cloudy, overcast day and the sheer bleakness and ruggedness of the beach made it beautiful. It had been untouched by human hand. It was all nature.’

Liz Howard, manager of the Curiosity Bookshop in Runcorn, Cheshire, recalls seeing her ‘most beautiful sight’ when she was quite young.

‘It was a perfectly complete spider’s web, covered in dew drops. The sun shone through them like diamonds and, at that age, I thought it was magical - something out of fairyland. Of course now I know it’s down to hard work - on the part of the spider.’

Wonderful web (photo courtesy Sarah Benson)

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?
We spoke to two Sarahs last week, both of them worked in bookshops and both of them chose views from the top of a hill or mountains as the most beautiful thing that they had seen.    


Sarah from the Malvern Book Cooperative, described the view from the top of Worcestershire Beacon (the highest of the Malvern Hills) in the mist: ‘We often get fog in Malvern, but if you walk into the hills, there is bright sunshine, and from this highest point, you can see all the hills, like islands, rising out of the mist.’

Sarah Rees, owner of Cover to Cover bookshop in Swansea, described a snow covered mountain view in Switzerland.  ‘I find untouched snow very beautiful. The first time I went skiing and took the chair-lift to the top of the ski slope, I looked down and was struck by the fresh, unspoilt snow. I think this was my most beautiful sight.’

The fact that the ski slope was at Grindelwald, the nearest resort to the Eiger, added to its beauty. ‘With the mountain as a backdrop, and all the chalets and pine trees dotted around,it was perfect.’

A little further north in Wales, we spoke to Wendy Drew at the Abergavenny Bookshop, who chose the Grand Canal in Venice as her most beautiful sight.  ‘It was my first (and sadly only) visit to the city and I arrived at the Grand Canal just as the sun was going down. It was stunning - everything I expected Venice to be.’

JMW Turner - Venice: The Dogana and the Salute, with the Entrance to the Grand Canal, at Twilight 1840 (image courtesy Tate)

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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Today saw the closure of the production line at Brother's typewriter factory in Wrexham and with it, the last typewriter to be built in UK, which is ending up at the Science Museum in London. It will be sitting alongside more than 200 others, which record the development and production of typewriters for over 130 years (but not including the biggest typewriter which was exhibited at the World's Fair in 1940 in New York).

Could someone pass the Tipex?

Frederick Forsyth would probably lament the demise of the typewriter, which he described to the BBC in this article in 2008 about their continuing appeal:
"I have never had an accident where I have pressed a button and accidentally sent seven chapters into cyberspace, never to be seen again. And have you ever tried to hack into my typewriter? It is very secure."

You can find out which typewriter other authors, including Mark Twain and George Orwell, preferred here.

But, keeping to the theme of our blog - is the young, but retiring Brother the most beautiful?  Take a look at this article at Gizmodo where Adrian Covert lists his ten most beautiful typewriters. Do you agree?

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Last week Nic (owner of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights) described how an Alaskan sunset in Anchorage was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. This week we found out that Philip Bird, bookseller at Oldfield Books in Bath, is also an admirer of sunsets - but his sunset was viewed much nearer to home - from the west coast of Cornwall: ‘I’ve seen many sunsets in this part of Cornwall as I’m a regular visitor to the area, but the one that comes to mind as the most beautiful is one I saw at the beginning of October as I walked down to the beach at Steeple Point, just north of Bude. There had been a recent rainstorm and the rays of the setting sun were shining from beneath the clouds. It was wonderful.’ Just down the road in Bristol, we spoke to Peter at the Arnolfini Bookshop. Peter was busy unpacking boxes when we called and definitely not contemplating beauty. He’s going to give the matter some thought and get back to us. Also in Bristol, we spoke to Liz Wilkins, bookseller at Durdham Down Books, who, like Philip, saw her ‘most beautiful sight’ very recently - on a walking holiday in the Himalayas in July. ‘It was a mountain in the Ladakh range. It gave me a feeling of peace and of the enormousness of everything around me.’ Even though Liz was looking up at the mountain, she felt as though she was ‘on the top of the universe’. Finally, Alex Pritchard at Gothic Image Bookshop in Glastonbury emailed with her view: ‘There is a place in Cornwall called St Nectan's Glen. It is a magical world shrouded in ancient woodland. On a sunny summer's day the light sparkles, illuminating the water and beckoning you into the cool, deep pool. I know that the Glen is beautiful because it has stayed with me, often calling me back, and I have a strong urge to tell others about it so they too can share in it's enchantment.’

We wanted to see for ourselves what the glen looked like and found this beautiful photograph by Angela Jayne Latham at www.celtic-photography.co.uk who kindly said that we could share it here.

St Nectan's Glen - photograph by Angela Jayne Latham

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Jane Gardam, OBE author of children's and adult fiction and twice winner of the Whitbread Award, discussed her most beautiful sight with my mother-in-law over afternoon tea.
Jane grew up in Cumberland and the North Riding of Yorkshire, and she recalled one winter, when on a visit to Swale Falls in Richmond, she witnessed the waterfall turn to ice. It was a rare thing, caused by a sudden temperature change, which freezes the water mid flow. Although it was only a fleeting occurrence, the memory of it stayed with Jane and was later captured in her short story ‘Icicle Ride’, featured in her children’s collection The Hollow Land. The book, which now sadly appears to be out of print, arrived in today’s post and the passage below describes Jane’s experience: ‘And there round the corner to the left where the beck fell sheer, stood high as the sky a chandelier of icicles. Hundreds upon hundreds of them down the shale steps of a waterfall. There were long ones and short ones and middling ones and fat ones like an arm and thin ones like a thread. They hung down from up as high as you could see and down to your very wellingtons. And not only water had turned to spears of glass but every living thing about – the grasses, the rushes, the spider webs, the tall great fearless thistles. You could pull the tubes of ice off the long wands of the loose-strife. You could lift them off like hollow needles. You could look right down them like crystal test tubes. You could watch them twist like fairy ear-rings. And as the sun reached them they all turned at once to every colour ever known – rose and orange and blue and green and lilac – and Harry and Bell watched them until the sun slipped down a little and left them icicles again.’

Jane has twice won the Whitbread Award for The Hollow Land (1981) and, for her adult novel, The Queen of the Tambourines (1991). In addition, God on the Rocks was runner up for the Booker Prize and her story for young readers, Bridget and William, was ‘Commended’ for the Carnegie Medal.

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, We're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email enquiries@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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Today we spoke to Felicity Notley who works at Falmouth Bookseller, and she told us (without any hesitation) that the most beautiful thing she has seen is the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. Felicity visited the lakes seven years ago after seeing pictures of them in a travel book. When she got there, Felicity was stunned by the clear, blue waters and powerful waterfalls. The lakes are filled with trout, and the stunning scenery surrounding this natural phenomenon make for a truly beautiful location.

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Next to respond to our question is Australian business tycoon Richard Farleigh. Richard rose to celebrity status after regularly appearing as a Dragon in the 3rd and 4th series of hit TV show Dragon’s Den. He is also a known chess fanatic, and has competed twice in the Chess Olympiad. Richard is currently the Chancellor of London South Bank University, taking up the post earlier this year.

As you will be aware, we are asking a number of different people what they believe to be the most beautiful thing they have ever seen is, and Richard’s response is a great example of thinking outside the box:

‘Obviously the first things to come to mind are stunning sunsets and exotic flowers, but sometimes human made objects can even beat nature, especially if they tell an amazing story. When I was a child I saw a complete replica of Captain Cooks ship, the Endeavour, and I have never forgotten the overwhelming feeling that absorbed me. I couldn’t believe the brave explorer had sailed off on to an unknown Pacific Ocean on such a tiny and humble looking wooden ship. He had such an incredible journey and seeing the ship made me feel like I had been there with him.’

A big thanks to Richard for taking the time to contribute to our project.

Anyone who would like to take part in the project, please don’t hesitate to email me with your response at rob.berry@hogsbackbooks.com.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

When we asked Richard Farleigh to describe the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, we didn't foresee him choosing the replica of HMS Endeavour, which carried one of the greatest explorers of the 18th century, Captain Cook, on his voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand. What a coincidence then, that the next person who penned a reply to our question was the man described as the 'greatest living explorer' (according to Guinness World Records), Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The coincidence didn't end there as the most beautiful thing he has ever seen was the distant site of the masts of the ship, the Benjy B, as it came into view to greet him at the end of his journey across the Arctic. Sir Ranulph describes the experience in his book To the Ends of the Earth, which covered his Transglobe Expedition (1979-82). The extract, which we've included below, comes at the end of the book, when, after crossing the ocean, Sir Ranulph and fellow explorer Charlie Burton eventually reached the other side to be picked up by the ship.

“Our hands and feet were wet and numb but at seven pm., climbing a low ridge to scout ahead, I saw two matchsticks upon the broken horizon along the line of my bearing. I blinked and they were gone. Then I saw them again; the distant masts of the Benjy B.
“I cannot describe the joy of that second. I found tears smarting at my eyes and I yelled aloud to Charlie. He was out of earshot but I waved like a madman and he must have known. I think that was the single most wonderful and satisfying moment of my life. Until then I could never bring myself to accept that success was within our grasp. But now I knew and I felt the strength of ten men in my veins. I knelt down on that little ridge and thanked God. For three hours we heaved and tugged, paddled and sweated. Sometimes we lost sight of her briefly but always, when again we saw her, she was a little bit bigger.

“Shortly before midnight on 3rd August Jimmy Young, up in the crow’s nest with binoculars, shouted down to the bridge, “I see them! I see them!”

“On the bridge, gazing into the low wan sun, one by one the crew identified amongst the heaving mass of whiteness the two dark figures that they had dropped off so long ago at the mouth of the Yukon River on the far side of the Arctic Ocean.”



To list all Sir Ranulph' s successes and awards would take up far too much room; so here are just a few of the record-breaking achievements he has accomplished throughout his extraordinary career:

• Along with the late Charles Burton, Sir Ranulph was the first man to reach both the North and South Poles. He was also the first to circumnavigate the globe along its polar axis, a three-year, 52,000 mile journey.
• In 1992/1993, alongside Mike Stroud, Sir Ranulph broke another record by completing the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic Continent - the longest unsupported polar journey in history.
• 2003 saw Sir Ranulph - this time alongside Mike Stroud - complete the first ever 7x7x7 marathon challenge. This consisted of seven marathons, in seven days on all seven continents.
• In 2009, Sir Ranulph reached the summit of Mount Everest, claiming the title of oldest Brit to do so in the process, and raising £6.2m for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Sir Ranulph has also written a number of novels, including a biography of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott.

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, I’m finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email rob.berry@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Today we've tried to contact Jamie Oliver (via his website) and Sir Terry Pratchett (via his agent Colin Smythe). According to Colin, Sir Terry is busy writing three books at the moment and has hundreds of questions sent to him each week (although he’s never been asked this particular one). We will wait to see if he answers. Colin is also a book publisher and is currently writing a 380,000-word book for OUP (due to be delivered in 1982!). He told us that the most beautiful things he had seen were the galaxies and nebulae photographed by the Hubble telescope. ‘So many of these are vying for perfection, it’s difficult to select a single one,’ he said. Colin added that these astronomical images are the sort of thing you would have as ‘wallpaper’ for your PC, except that it would be terrible to cover them with icons. Instead he has opted for a picture of fallen autumn leaves and a Dog Tree as his wallpaper – chosen because the image is central and unobscured by anything on screen.

To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, we're finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email rob.berry@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Today we heard from British novelist Patrick Gale, author of 16 novels, including Rough Music – reputedly the most widely held book in libraries. We also spoke to Sue, bookseller at Hunting Raven Bookshop in Frome and to Kate and Nic from Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath.
Patrick took time to think about the most beautiful thing he has seen whilst sitting on a train crawling through rural Ireland, and like one of the suitors in The King Who Wanted More, he has chosen a rose (although not a red one): ‘…the most beautiful thing I've ever seen is something I'm lucky enough to see for much of the year whenever I step outside my study in the garden. It's a fantastically lovely rose, Souvenir du Docteur Jamain, in that hard-to-photograph shade of deep purple that plant breeders often arrived at in their obsessive quest for black. It thrives on a largely sunless wall, has elegant, bug free foliage, smells like heaven and is a salutary reminder that nothing I write can begin to rival the beauties of nature!’

Patrick is also a talented musician. He attended the choir school for Winchester Cathedral and later sang for the London Philharmonic Choir. He also takes nice photographs - if the picture he gave us of his rose is anything to go by.

Sue, bookseller at Hunting Raven Bookshop in Frome, Somerset, said the most beautiful thing she had seen was a tiger. She is a regular visitor to Longleat Safari Park, which is ‘just down the road’, but on one occasion she experienced a very special moment:

‘It was late in the afternoon, just before the park closed, and there were no other cars about. Ours was the last car in.

‘The park had got two new tigers and as we travelled around we saw them playing. Suddenly they ran across the road in front of us and as they did one of them stopped and turned around to look at us. It was a very powerful.’

Whilst Sue didn't capture the moment with a photograph, here is William Blake's original of The Tyger, printed c. 1795, image courtesy of Wikipedia.



While assistant manager Kate from Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath gave the matter some thought (she was leaning towards an item of clothing), owner Nic didn't need to think twice about his most beautiful sight:
‘An Alaskan sunset – viewed from Anchorage. ‘Anchorage is a small city, but if you are high up, say in a hotel, you can see for hundreds of miles. In the foreground is the bay, and beyond that the mountains and beyond that the complete wilderness that is Alaska stretching out forever.’
To help promote our new title The King Who Wanted More, I’m finding out what is the most beautiful thing people have ever seen. It could be a landscape, a painting, a building, or maybe something altogether different...it’s completely up to you. Please email rob.berry@hogsbackbooks.com if you'd like to take part.

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