You get good days and then you get GOOD days, which is exactly what Saturday 13th July 2024 was!
We discovered the whimsical venue some months earlier; an expertly crafted tepee in the rolling Cotswold countryside, adjoining an amphitheatre, a natural wooden children's playground and a 17th century building now home to a foodhall, complete with scrumptious cakes and pastries.
The tepee itself was gorgeous, with rustic tables lending themselves perfectly to our display of each and every illustration from the book and, at the centre, a fire-pit that gently smoked, evoking the presence of dragons nearby.
Guests were greeted at the door by a life-size (?!) version of Oddney and Magnus, which naturally became the scene of many a photograph.
Inside, the place was buzzing, so many people had come to share the occasion, from the very south of England to the north of Scotland and everywhere in-between. It was humbling to find a queue of supportive loved ones waiting to have their books signed! And, to see so many smiling faces reassuringly looking at me as I read a chapter from the book - my nerves melted away. We sincerely want to thank everyone for coming and also to those who couldn't make it but that supported us greatly.
We had a lot of help on the big day: Dannie Price our superstar publicist, who came along and kindly fell into the role of tending the book sales and being our MC; my sister Katie and brother-in-law Ross who recorded the occasion with stunning photographs and a surprise video; Lis and Dave of Pricelis Art for preparing the artwork for display and all of those journeys to and fro to get the job done; our friends the Joys who helped with the clear-up and took home our takings (haha!); and to our grandchild, nephew and nieces who did us proud, bursting with energy and exuding joy as they mingled wearing their very own Oddney's Otherland t-shirts!
And, of course, from me personally, I must thank Rodney, who encouraged me and trusted me with a lifetime's worth of illustrations to write a story that is (I hope) in at least some way befitting of his legendary art.
Perhaps the crème de la crème of the day - midway through our event, a brace of Spitfires flew overhead in a nod to our friendly dragon of the same name. Okay, I must confess we didn't organise the flypast, but we couldn't have planned it any better. A coincidence maybe? Me, I like to think of it as a sign that our book was meant to be.
Thank you for reading,
Sarah
PS If you haven't got your copy of Oddney's Otherland yet, you can buy it here.