In dedication – ‘Lucy’s Story: The End of the World’

As my Twitter peeps know, I struggled with choosing the dedicatee for my upcoming book, Lucy’s Story: The End of the World. The first book, What Stars Are Made Of was easy – Yvonne personified the message of the story with perfection that would be foolish to overlook; she helped me realise how beautiful life’s experiences are, and how to come out on top no matter what may befall us.

The Caretaker of Imagination was pretty easy as well. Without David encouraging me from the start, it would never have been written. It wasn’t that I couldn’t have done it without him – but in all honesty, I doubt I ever would have (at least, not yet).

But Lucy’s Story? In some ways, I wanted to dedicate it to the person I wished I could have been. Lucy was so many things that I did not see in myself as a 12-year-old and I have huge admiration for her. At fellow writer, Catherine Mede’s suggestion, I was inclined to dedicate the story to ‘kids all over the world – including the adult ones’. I liked that, but I still searched away in the back of my mind for someone who the story was really for.

And then it hit me. Ella was one of my earliest (and arguably my #1) reader, and gave me my very first review for The Caretaker of Imagination. She read Lucy’s Story: The End of the World very early on in the piece, and has been a huge source of inspiration and encouragement for me. In fact, when she finished reading it, told me how much she identified with Lucy’s character.

And so, my dedicatee: Ella, who is just a year older than Lucy, but every bit as weird, wonderful & awesome.

If you were to write a book, who would you dedicate it to? If you’ve already written a book (or books) who have you dedicated them to? Why?