North Child (Usborne Modern Classics)

Product Information

With Rose’s ordinary, practical life-skills – weaving, washing a shirt – being so crucial to the success of her quest, it’s important that the reader believes in it. Despite her mother’s protestations to the contrary, Rose was born facing North, which according to local lore means that she will travel far away from home. Because the man/bear failed to break his curse within a year, the troll queen who placed him under the curse comes to take him to her castle "east of the sun and west of the moon," where he will be her prisoner. The yoke pattern for Heima was based on a sunflower, and became one of the impressive, leggy ones grown by Gustav Klimt and my friend Vicky at Balnacra Arts this Summer.

In trying to uncover the truth North Child, Rose, unwittingly lets him fall into the hands of the Troll Queen who wants the man hidden under the white fur to be her husband. As with all fairy tales, you may be able to easily guess the end of the story, but this in no way detracts from its telling. It was eye opening for me to go and live with a family with siblings, and witness the loving relationships they had. The more Rose sees of the palace, and the more she comes to like the bear, the more curious she gets. We also hear from the Troll Queen, our antagonist, and her story of desire and greed and heartless cruelty interweaves with those of the main characters.So now I’m just looking forward to seeing what beautiful indigo magic we can work on our blank-canvas bags when we get together! The bear takes Rose to a distant castle hidden within a mountain, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. I’ve started designing these already and I’m planning to tweak them a little, shape- and detail-wise; samples in progress and looking interesting!

North Child is simply fantastic, and a wonderful book to both thrill and comfort… Brilliant for cold wintry nights or long lazy days.It’s a story told by several different characters Rose (North Child), her father, her brother Neddy, White Bear and the Troll Queen.