I have a brand new book out in the world!

The Last Song of the Mistle Thrush by Ruth Mary Flanagan, illustrated by me. 

It is so exciting every time I get a new book published and see my illustrations in print, in book form, but this was especially exciting as I finished the illustrations a couple of years ago, so it’s been a bit of a wait, but so worth it when I received my copy in the mail.

The book follows the story of a Mistle thrush as he sings his beautiful song throughout the seasons. But one fateful day, his forest is chopped down and he must sing a different song, one that reminds us of the fragility of earth, and how we must take care of it. 

Ruth’s poem was shortlisted for the Hammond International Literary Prize in 2018. 

As nature and wildlife are my favourite things to illustrate, this book was an ideal project. When Ruth first asked me to illustrate her words, we sat down together and figured out what illustrations she would like. I tried to use a mixture of view points and types of illustrations from full double page spreads to vignettes and single page illustrations. 

Seeing the book in print, I think it flows really well and the colours have reproduced perfectly, following the changing colours of the seasons and the mood as it changes throughout the book and the journey of the Mistle thrush.

Over the last couple of weeks the book has been on a ‘book review tour’ , receiving some amazing reviews across the board, including :

’A must-have for every child’s bookshelf - gentle, thought-provoking and full of heart.’  Vanessa Taylor , No 1 best-selling author and multi prize winner. 

‘A powerful reminder to us all of the need to conserve our natural environment.’ Songbird Survival.

I have added a pictures of the front cover above, and you can see more on my instagram page (at) sarahlovellart , buy yourself a copy here  

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the book.

Sarah