When I got asked about working on this book, the characters and the story were of course critical. But the setting being San Francisco in the 1940’s and Sicily in the 1950’s… this made me take on the project immediately.
It was essential to me to have a clear image of the world around them even before working on the character development, so I started by drawing the scenes that evoked that world best.
Luis Mendo
Artist and Illustrator
On the only family holiday the family ever took to Sicily, Caro (now 11) had discovered an old town just 15 minutes by bicycle from the villa they were staying in that was full of abandoned houses.
The Saymore house was built by the renowned architect of the time Thomas Pebblewick. Thomas was famous for building miniature castles styled on the German ‘Pyrmont’ castle
The Saymore's house in SF
Derek had started as a young having found a creosote drowned hedgehog in an old milk churn in the back garden when he was 12.
Caro sent a telegram to Marco the estate agent in Sicily to say she was arriving in 2 days and that she wanted to buy more property.
Summers in Sicily
The walls were on average 93.52cm thick and the house was austere, poorly lit, filled with very poor home-made taxidermy.
San Francisco steep streets, 1951
A Californian Condor (Gymnogyps Californianus jim-no-jips Californy-anus) was spotted that very same day riding on the rooftop of Jim Pennywangle’s Divco Model U Crystal Dairy milk truck. An equally rare sighting.
Cars made Caro change her name to Carrowack.