When we published Castle Barmy, our intention was for it to be a children’s picture book with the style of a medieval fairy-tale but the story of our time. As we all sheltered in a lockdown that seemed unreal, from a virus that appeared like some terrible nightmare, we wanted families to be able to read a Pied Piper for their own age: where a foolish King Boris locks down the kingdom’s children to protect them from a poisonous dragon, only for his cunning magician Doom to steal the nation’s gold and sneak off for a picnic at Castle Barmy.
The story remains an uplifting reminder of a terrible time. And it does at least have a happy ending (spoiler alert!) with nature blossoming and the women and children allowed to run the land (though the fear remains of just WHICH women!). It is also a story that has just kept on giving, as our own King Boris stumbles and bumbles to an ignominious end.
So, to celebrate the fall of a king (Boris of the Golden Wallpaper, Boris the Braggart, Boris the Bare-Faced Liar?), here’s a reminder of how our King Boris meets his end; and a nudge towards our Store, where Castle Barmy is on sale to celebrate the beginning of the end of an age that made us all a little barmy.
