by Tod Davies, with illustrations by Mike Madrid ($14.95)
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The second book in The History of Arcadia series
“Look inside this world and find wonder.” —KATE BERNHEIMER, editor of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me and Fairy Tale Review
“Davies’s absorbing salute to the necessity and power of storytelling promises many grand adventures while hinting that there is really only one.” —Publishers Weekly
“In the grand tradition of fairy tales everywhere, Lily the Silent is the story of a reluctant heroine, feckless prince, and the wickedest of queens. . . . With Mike Madrid’s illustrations throughout (appropriately compared to Arthur Rackham’s), this title shows how comfortably fairy tales can encompass the fits and foibles of current times. It reads fast and furious and promotes love and friendship, all while making sure readers never forget to keep a solid head on their shoulders.”— COLLEEN MONDOR, Bookslut
“Tod Davies follows up her novel ‘Snotty Saves the Day’ with the equally impressive ‘Lily the Silent’….This modern fairy tale smartly explores the power of storytelling in our lives…a rewarding book for adults and children.” —David Gutowski, The Largehearted Boy
Lily leads a serene life in Arcadia until the forces of Megalopolis invade. Rescued from slavery by a prince of Megalopolis, Lily is sent to retrieve a very important key. Aided by her friends, her dog Rex, and even Death herself, Lily’s adventures take her from the Moons to the Bottom of the Sea, and finally back to Megalopolis, where she faces the decision of her life. Will she choose True Love and relinquish the key to those in Power or will she risk everything for who she is and return the key to Arcadia?
Narrated by Lily’s daughter, Sophia the Wise, this is a story about a girl who learns to live by her own light and—no matter how reluctantly—become the queen her people need. Full of Arcadian legends, it is also a fairy tale within a fairy tale about a troubled world not unlike our own, as well as a beautifully illustrated sequel to Snotty Saves the Day, which critics and booksellers hailed as “Lewis Carroll with footnotes by Jonathan Swift,” while comparing it to authors whose work transcends the fantasy genre: Susanna Clark, C.S. Lewis, George Orwell, and L. Frank Baum.
A fantastic adventure story, smart political allegory, and philosophical treatise, this is a book to be savored by adults of all ages.
About the Author and Illustrator
TOD DAVIES lives with her husband, Alex Cox, and their two dogs, in the alpine valley of Colestin, Oregon, and at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in Boulder, Colorado. She is the author of the cooking memoir Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You’ve Got and Snotty Saves the Day, the first book in The History of Arcadia series. Unsurprisingly, her attitude toward literature is the same as her attitude toward cooking—it’s all about working with what you have to find new ways of looking and new ways of being.
MIKE MADRID, a native San Franciscan, is the author of The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines.
About The History of Arcadia series
The History of Arcadia series tells the story of a world that was literally formed by a story, by one person discovering and claiming who she really is . . . and of the subsequent events that led first to a deceptively happy world, then to an inevitably tragic outcome, and finally to a slow rebuilding of the world on foundations more deeply and thoughtfully laid. Each book includes bonus Arcadian legends and fairy tales, and relates how the manuscript crossed the barriers between Arcadia and our own world to arrive at Exterminating Angel Press. The first two novels in the series are Snotty Saves the Day and Lily the Silent.
Praise for The History of Arcadia series
“Innovative form and spellbinding content . . . Davies’s fast-paced and mesmerizing [Snotty Saves the Day], which propels its reader from one breathtaking adventure to the next, is a novel of ideas for children and adults. . . . Much like Snotty Saves the Day, Lily the Silent is also a political allegory that asks its reader to reflect on gender roles, popular culture, and dominant ideologies. . . . Stories, as Tod Davies’s History of Arcadia novels ultimately suggest, serve as a civilization’s backbone, and it is therefore in stories too that we can discover the potential for fundamental change and a better society.” —Marvels & Tales
*In August 2012, Snotty Saves the Day will be released in an enhanced eBook edition. To obtain a review copy of the eBook (or original paperback), please contact molly.mikolowski@gmail.com
- • View the three-part trailer for Snotty Saves the Day,filmed in the mountains, along the beach, and at independent bookstores, including Powell’s Books, Orca Books, Village Books, Books, Inc., and Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle’s Children’s Books:
- Part 1: http://vimeo.com/32174481
- Part 2: http://vimeo.com/32270009
- Part 3: http://vimeo.com/26738744
- • Read more about Tod Davies’ inspiration in the Oregonian.
- • Check out Tod Davies’ playlist for Snotty Saves the Day at Largehearted Boy.
- Hear Tod talk to KBOO’s Lyn Moelich about how we are a storytelling animal,
- and what The History of Arcadia has to do with our own…
- Mermaids! Tod Davies reads from Lily the Silent, about the mermaids of Arcadia, in The Next Best Book Blog’s audio series…Arcadian mermaids are peaceful, and have the muscle to back it up, too…
Lily the Silent:
$14.95 / 224 pages / 16 b&w illustrations / October 2012
Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-18-3 / eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-19-0
Snotty Saves the Day:
$13 / 208 pages / May 2011
Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-07-7 / eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-09-1
Enhanced eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-20-6 (with linked footnotes and embedded videos)
$14.95