In 1977, the year I turned 30, three life-changing things happened. I got married. I got a kitty. And I painted my first picture. All of it went into the diaries I've been keeping since I was in my 20's, because, most of the time, my life has felt like a miracle and I didn't want to forget any of it. And that's what THE FAIRY TALE GIRL is about. It's an illustrated memoir, water-colored and hand-lettered, taken from my diaries and photo albums; a story of growing up in the lovely 1950's as the oldest of eight children, coming of age in the 1960's and 1970's and discovering art, cooking, feminism, England, rock and roll, and love. When my heart was broken into a thousand pieces, I was inspired to run away from home in the naive hope of escaping the pain and confusion. But I never gave up believing in and searching for my childhood dreams of happily ever after. If you like time travel, you've come to the right place. With Love, Susan Branch
Based on the diaries Susan has kept since she was in her 20's, The Fairy Tale Girl is book one of a three-part series. Together the three books are an illustrated memoir, charmingly designed in Susan's style with her whimsical watercolors and personal photographs. It's an enchanting story of love and loss, mystery and magic that begins in a geranium-colored house in California, and ends up, like any good fairy tale, on the right side of the rabbit hole, in a small cottage in the woods on the New England Island of Martha's Vineyard.
The Fairy Tale Girl humorously explores Susan's journey as an artist and as a girl/woman, from the 1950's through the 1980's. In the first book of the series we get a revealing look at Susan's early life as the oldest of eight children and at the marriage she imagined would last forever. It's filled with inspiration, romance and discovery, a little bit of heartbreak, and a leap into the unknown.
Journey back to the olden days with Susan, to the land of happily-ever-after, where men were men and girls just wanted to have fun. Bring a hankie, we think you might need it.
United States