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INTERVIEW LISSA EVANS
04.11.16
www.thebookseller.com
Lissa Evans M
BY CHARLOTTE EYRE
any children’s books garner attention before publication, but few have gathered praise as exalted as that bestowed on the third
children’s book from Lissa Evans. Wed Wabbit, which is published by David Fickling Books in January, has been called “a future classic” by author Nina Stibbe and “dark and sharp and beautiful and un-guessable” by children’s writer Katherine Rundell. Nick Lake, children’s fiction publishing director at HarperCollins, has said: “In 50 years’ time, people may say: ‘It’s a bit like Wed Wabbit’ in the way they now say: ‘It’s a bit like Narnia’.” Wed Wabbit follows the adventures of Fidge, who
lives with her slightly dippy mother and her little sister Minnie, who is obsessed with her toys Red Rabbit (although Minnie calls it “Wed Wabbit”) and Ella the Elephant, and a book about the Wimbly Woos, a bizarre group of multicoloured, dustbin-like creatures who speak only in verse. When Minnie has an accident, Fidge, along with her cosseted cousin Graham, falls down a set of stairs and into the land of the Wimbly Woos, where they have to solve a series of clues to find their way home, aided by a life-size Ella, Dr Carrot and a grey Wimbly Woo (the greys are the most intelligent, although somewhat irritating). Evans says the book is full of “comedy, silly verse and
verbal trickery”, and that she was initially inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden’s idea of a relationship between a no-nonsense girl and a boy who is a “complete pain in the arse”. Graham is, at the start, incredibly spoilt by his hilariously fretful parents, who say things such as: “Graham’s only just over a severe sore throat and he’s developed a fear of eating anything except organic ice-cream”; Fidge, on the other hand, is entirely sensible. “She’s the one holding things together,” says Evans. “Fidge is never going to be the most effusive character in the world but she’s practical, not silly, and I really admire her.” The plot itself is reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s
Alice in Wonderland or The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum, as it throws the central characters into an alternative world they must learn how to escape. Evans is a huge fan of magical children’s books and what she describes as “magic in real life”—magical incidents intruding on the life of ordinary protagonists. “When I was young, I read everything in the library
The author who writes grown-up titles in the morning and children’s books in the afternoon has penned a mythical masterpiece with allusions to many kids’ classics
PHOTO CREDIT: ALYS TOMLINSON
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