If you’ve never listened to it before (in which case, why not??), Down the Rabbit Hole is a fantastic radio show all about children’s books, broadcast on Resonance FM and hosted by children’s literature extraordinaires Katherine Woodfine, Melissa Cox, and Louise Lamont.
And yesterday’s episode included a feature by Helen Peters, author of the wonderful The Secret Hen House Theatre and the equally-brilliant, just-published follow-up, The Farm Beneath the Water. For her segment, Helen travelled back to the family farm to talk about the inspiration behind her books, the importance of close observation, and turning the farm itself into a “character” in her novels – with lots of authentic mud-squelching, pig-oinking, and chicken-clucking happening in the background…
You can listen to the episode here:
Down The Rabbit Hole – 24th February 2015 by Resonance Fm on Mixcloud
Tomorrow we’ll be posting a fantastic essay by Helen on this blog about growing up on the farm and the inspiration this provided for her books. And in the meantime, if you’ve not yet discovered the book, you can read the opening chapters of The Farm Beneath the Water below, or order it online here.
