Years ago, an art therapist put out a call on behalf of a child client dying from leukaemia, asking for a story to say goodbye to their family and life. I was so moved by this call that I searched high and low for ‘end of life’ stories as support. To my surprise, I couldn’t find any.

As time passed, and I encountered increasing experiences of loss both personally and professionally, this child’s call for a book kept coming back; so much so, I knew I had to write it. Even if it was too late for this child, they had rightly highlighted something that was missing; a call that still needed to be answered. In exploring the best way to go about it, I immediately thought of fairy tales. Throughout history, fairy tales have tackled the big, existential themes of life and death, which gave me the idea of writing a ‘therapeutic fairy tale,’ one that could help facilitate the intensely difficult, almost unbearable, but necessary conversations around end of life themes. A therapeutic story using metaphor as a ‘container’ might help children and families say their final goodbyes and support this last journey of life.

Throughout writing this book, The Night Crossing, I felt its strong emotional power. On sharing it with Speechmark’s Senior Editor at the time, Katrina Hulme-Cross, she immediately understood the need for extra-careful handling. I sent off the story for sensitivity checks with people who had worked in hospices, and also family members with personal experience. When we received the green light that this story could be helpful, Katrina and I discussed how this story needed to be illustrated, so that images could help hold feelings and play their part in emotional support for readers. In further discussion, we spoke about how ‘therapeutic fairy tales’ might support children across a variety of difficult life experiences, and the whole series was born.

I was lucky to work very closely with the brilliant artist/illustrator and arts educator, Sarah Pimenta, from Social Fabric, who has worked with groups in so many different settings. With a background in textile art and screen-printing, she has now brought to life all our six therapeutic fairy tales in such moving, sensitive and colourful ways. Sarah engaged with the strong emotions and responded with extraordinary, vibrant images. The first volume of therapeutic fairy tale series, which includes a Storybook Manual with ideas of how to work with books and children, came out in August, 2020.

The Night Crossing is a book to be read with care and quiet, in the right setting. It’s advisable that the therapist, care professional or adult reads the book beforehand in preparation for their own feelings to the story. Not surprisingly, given the topic, it can provoke very strong responses. More than anything, Sarah and I hope that it can offer some emotional support to children, adults and families in their own journey of dying and death, and help with facilitating important conversations with loved ones.

“The Night Crossing is so sensitively written, with beautiful illustrations. I found it honest and touching, a sympathetic aid that could be revisited whenever needed. In our experience, children take in as little or as much as they feel comfortable to deal with when they are ready. I also feel this book could help siblings of a child who is very ill and for parents or carers to help gauge other children’s questions and emotions.”

Hephzibah Kaplan, Art Therapist, Director, London Art Therapy Centre