Katya Balen: October, October (Bloomsbury Publishing 2020)
„We live in the woods and we are wild.”
October lives with her father in the forest, where it seems that they are alone in the whole world and everything is theirs. They produce everything they need, only sometimes have to go to the nearby village, which they both find unbearable. October’s mother could not stand this life and returned to civilization, for which October could never forgive her. Two very important things happen on the girl’s 11th birthday: she finds an orphaned barn owl and takes it into her care, and her father has an accident and is hospitalized. October has to move to London, to live with her mother, which changes her and her owl Stig’s life.
October is a child blessed with a rich imagination, who is smart and resourceful, so she can find her place even in the big city. She makes friends, although she loses one, too: while Stig becomes more and more wild, October begins to mellow. The story of the two can be traced in the text told in first person and in the accompanying illustrations. The book highlights the importance of kindness and caring for each other, while reflecting on how we can preserve our freedom, the wildness within us throughout our lives.
British author Katya Balen studied English at university and wrote her thesis on the impact of texts on the behavior of autistic children. She has been supporting autistic people ever since. When her novel October, October was published, it was included in the fifty best children’s books list and has since become a modern classic.
Illustrator Angela Harding is inspired by the flora and fauna of the British countryside to create her unique engravings. She always takes her notebook with her on her trips with her husband to sketch the birds she sees and later turn them into artworks in her studio.
