Michaelmas

Today is Michaelmas Day, the festival of St Michael and all Angels, which is a favourite of mine.  I love the idea of the autumn air full of angels.  When my children were small I used to make paper angels with sweets hiding under them -  I still do, but sometimes the sweets are bigger than the angels.  And we no longer have angel hunts.

Years ago, when my daughter was eating her Michaelmas chocolate, she said 'I think when it's Michaelmas, we should have chocolate every day for a week', to which I replied, 'sorry, we don't keep The Octave of Angels.'  That sounded like the title of a book, so  I wrote it as soon as I'd woked out what 'The Octave of Angels' might be.  It's out of print in this country now, but it may still be published in the US, I'm not sure.  It included a lot of themes which were dear to my heart.  And sometimes, characters in books create their own names.  Children in The Octave came up with names like 'Berry' and 'Myrrh', and I had to find the 
reasons for them.  

My first book, A Friend for Rachel, later 'The Secret Mice' has a lot to do with Michaelmas and angels, too.  
That's out of print, too, but I hope it can reappear one day.  There's something very special about a first book.

Goodnight, and may the angels keep you.