Kineton author to get children's book printed with local publisher

Kineton based publisher, Beercott Books, will produce the paperback version of Kineton children's author and illustrator, Charley King's book 'Mr Blinking.'

Simon Lucas, owner of Beercott Books, said: “Mr Blinking is already popular as an e-book, and we are really looking forward to working with Charley to bring this fabulous story to bookshops next year. It is great to work with an author who really is local.”

Mr Blinking tells the story of a man who appears to have everything: money, status, successful businesses, even a football team, but when he accidentally meets up with a very plucky mouse called Molly in his shop everything changes.

The initial inspiration of Mr Blinking came from the author's partner who used to say 'blinkin' this and 'blinkin that' all the time. She wanted to tell a story that had meaning with emotional intelligence. Kindness is very important to her and being happy too. She felt that she could tell the story as long as it had some funny parts in it and she could show the main character learning from his selfishness.

Mr Blinking’s tower came from a visit to Warwick Castle and the location of Blinkingstoppe initially started when she was on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales in 2017 visiting Pen-y-ghent fell.

Coming across Cressbrook Mill (which used to be an orphanage and workhouse for the expanding eighteenth-century cotton industry) whilst cycling along the Monsal Trail in Derbyshire gave Charley the idea of the orphans in the story, where they lived and worked. She has since learnt that Charles Dickens had the same idea when he saw Cressbrook Mill for his famous story of Oliver Twist.

Charley read that one of Roald Dahl’s tips was to use three characters that would be unlikely to mix and make a story from them. Hence Mr Blinking a wealthy businessman with a football team, orphans and Molly the mouse.

To Illustrate the book Charley has used watercolours and explains her method of drawing and painting on her website: charleykingcreative.com.

Mr Blinking is due for release early 2021.

Charley (Charlotte) King was born in Buckinghamshire. As a child she loved books and her favourite three were 'My golden book of animals', 'Tim Mouse' by Judy Brook and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl.

After leaving college she worked as a PA during the cold war for the Ministry of Defence, and carried on working as a secretary until she left work in 1993 to look after her adopted son.

Charley's imagination started to grow when she created her own kitchen garden and noticed all the little creatures in her vegetables and flowers. The first story she wrote was about a ladybird that lived in her garden. Since then in her everyday life stories spring into her mind and she can't wait to get them down onto paper.