Page 27 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
‘That’s so sad,’ I murmured, shaking my head.
I was about to close the system down when an entry lower down in the search results caught my eye.
Clicking into it took me to a website belonging to Sigrid Hansen’s daughter, Eva, and I smiled as I read the latest news post. It seemed that Eva and her brother, Axel, had been raised by their paternal grandparents.
After their granddad passed away, their grandma decided to move into sheltered accommodation and, while helping her pack, the siblings found several boxes full of their parents’ belongings in the attic, which they’d known nothing about.
Among them was a notebook containing the completed manuscript for their mum’s second book, notebooks containing a further two partially written stories as well as ideas for two more and a portfolio full of illustrations – some complete and others just rough sketches.
They’d approached Whispering Fox Books, hoping they’d posthumously publish the second book while knowing it was a long shot.
Several months later, the siblings were invited to the publisher’s head office.
A new editor had read the full series and believed the messages were strong and relevant for today’s children.
They wanted to relaunch book one on the thirtieth anniversary of its original publication, follow it up with the other three books Sigrid had written and potentially the additional two ideas if the first four sold well.
They’d do the merchandise tie-ins originally planned and, as Eva and Axel were talented artists themselves, Whispering Fox Books wanted them to finish the illustrations their mother had started.
The relaunch had been confirmed for September next year.
Bursting with excitement at what I’d found, I composed an email to Lars and added in the website link.
To: Lars Jóhannsson
From: Lily Appleton
Date: 5 November
Subject: Fascinating Discovery
Hi Lars, my curiosity was piqued about Anna and the Snow Dragon as the author’s name wasn’t familiar.
Turns out Sigrid Hansen was killed in an accident shortly before the book was released, but I also discovered something fascinating about it.
I won’t say more. I’ll let you read the piece for yourself…
Lily
Frowning as I read through what I’d written, I considered not sending it.
Would he find it weird that I’d done a follow-up on the book?
But I was a bookseller. It was what we did.
Before I could overthink it, I pressed send.
If Lars had an emotional reaction to the news, he’d be able to do it in the privacy of his own home and he’d have a day away from me tomorrow if he thought I’d overstepped.
Had I? No. I couldn’t see how what I’d done would be considered overstepping.
If anything, he’d be grateful for the heads up.
His little sister’s favourite book would reappear in bookshops next year and be receiving a lot of publicity and that was something he needed time to prepare for.
As I drove home, I thought about the Paperback Pixie.
Even though Lars would have stopped working for us long before Anna and the Snow Dragon was reissued next September, I wanted to do something special for him and the memory of his sister.
I’d message Eva via her website to see if Bay Books could be involved in any promotional activities and I’d definitely do a display in the shop.
I’d also love to donate several copies to the Paperback Pixie to help spread the word about that beautiful story.
Maybe they’d identify themselves to us before then.
Doubtful, but I’d keep hoping. I could always drop them a direct message suggesting the idea and promising anonymity.
I pictured Lars’s vulnerability as he read the book and wondered what his reaction would have been if I’d hugged him.
I’d wanted to and it wasn’t just because I’d wanted to comfort him.
There was something about Lars that made me want to be near him, just as it had done from the moment I met him, as though there was some mysterious force pulling us together.
Perhaps the same mysterious force that had placed a copy of Anna and the Snow Dragon on our bookshelves because that seemed to be the only explanation for its appearance.
The book was nearly thirty years old. No way would it have been on our shelves for that long without selling, without me seeing it and without it being in our system so some sort of divine intervention had to have placed it there.
It was improbable but, as Sherlock Holmes stated in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four , When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth .
And I quite liked the idea that some mysterious force might be bringing Lars and me together.
Because I liked the idea of Lars and me being together and I certainly hadn’t expected to feel that way when I’d glared at his CV in my inbox.