Author's book hits the shelves despite death of illustrator mother
A Shropshire author has finished a children's book, after a friend stepped in to help complete the illustrations started by the writer's 92-year-old mother.
When Diane Perry from Bitterley near Ludlow decided to pen a children's book, she was thrilled when her 92-year-old mother agreed to provide the illustrations.
Diane's mum, Phyllis Blakemore, who was from Ironbridge, was already a published writer in her own right and wrote the highly popular 'Gentlemen of the River, The Last Coracle Men of the Severn Gorge'.
“She agreed to illustrate my book and set out making the sketches,” said Diane. “She completed all the original pencil work but very sadly passed away in 2023 before the illustrations could be finished.”
Diane said after he mother's death, she wasn't certain her book, called 'The Cat and the Coracle', would ever see the light of day – until a friend stepped in to help.
“I thought the project would have to be abandoned until a friend in my writing group, 'Wrekin Writers', agreed to help.
“Jan Johnstone was amazing in the way she interpreted my mom's original drawings and produced art work that we could use to complete the book. "
She said the self-published book, which is set in the Ironbridge Gorge and tells the story of a cat called Marmalade who lives in an old coracle on the edge of the river, is now available on Lulu.com.
“It was a long and emotional process to self-publish this work, especially when it got closer to completion as I knew my mom would never see the finished product - but I like to think she would be very happy with the end result,” Diane said.
