I'm a Lytham author and I celebrated the release of my debut novel by reading it to animals in parks and farms
A Fylde author who can regularly be found reading her stories to animals in parks and farms has launched her debut novel.
Christy Theodoulou, who was raised in Lytham and now lives in London, found her passion for writing after completing a law degree at Lancaster University and a Bachelor of Civil Law qualification from the University of Oxford.
Sign up for our Blackpool Gazette retro newsletter - warm nostalgia delivered to your inbox - weekly.
Her first novel Godless Cosmologies is a gothic fantasy which has been published by Hawkwood Books of Blackpool - and as she worked on it, Christy got into the habit of reading drafts to all sorts of creatures in parks close to her home in London.
Join our Blackpool Gazette WhatsApp group to get all the top stories delivered straight to your phone
She enjoyed it so much, she read more and more to everything from squirrels and pigeons and to ferrets and even alpacas, leading to her being hailed as a latter-day Dr Doolittle.
The reading to animals started when Christy and her husband Theo went into a local London park with the intention of Christy reading passages from her book on video.
“Squirrels and pigeons came over and they seems to enjoy the sounds,” said Christy. “It just grew from there and we went to other outdoor sites, including city farms, to read more.”
Christy’s book has been published by Blackpool-based Hawkwood Books and has been described as “an enchanting story about dreams, memories, and nightmares”.
Said to be a dark but magical take on classic tales like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, the story follows Pear, who is sent to a mental asylum following the death of their Mother.
Pear is visited by fantastic, sometimes scary, creatures and characters at night and taken to a dream world where all is not as it seems.
Christy, 28, is the daughter of former Celtic, Preston North End and Scotland footballer Brian O’Neill, who still lives in Lytham along with Christy’s mum Lisa and younger brother Toby. Her other brother Oscar is based in Manchester.
Christy was delighted to return to her home town for a launch event for the book at the Lytham Assembly Rooms, followed by a similar event at the Fable Book Café in St Annes.
She also has several events in London scheduled, including one at Word on the Water, which is a bookshop on a barge on the Regent’s Park towpath.
Godless Cosmologies is available now from bookshops and online sources.