J. Sardà “The Queen in the Cave”

In her authorial illustrator debut, Júlia Sardà spins an enthralling and evocative tale rich with layers of meaning to be unearthed.

One night, Franca has a dream about a marvellous queen, who lives in a dark cave, deep in the forest. She cannot sit still until she knows if her dream is true! So, together with her younger sisters, Carmela and Tomasina, she ventures into the forest at the end of their garden. As they travel deeper through nettles and thickets, drawing closer and closer to the cave, the world shifts … everything shrinks and expands at the same time. They are somewhere new now, somewhere different. Here, they meet beasts and creatures that shock and delight them, and escape horrible things that utterly frighten them. They learn how to be brave, to be bold, to face their darkest fears. And what of the queen? Well, what they find in the cave is perhaps the most unexpected thing of all…