Our new children’s book ‘Whispers in the Park’

A father-daughter venture, written by Emmanuel Olympitis and illustrated by Olympia Olympitis.

Signed copies available here in time for Christmas!

Whispers in the Park takes the reader on a rollicking adventure through the treetops and undergrowth of the magnificent St James’s Park, where the most ancient and prestigious school for squirrels resides. 

When young squirrels Shane and Sophie receive scholarships to St James’s, they are excited and nervous to enter the magical world of squirreldom’s most venerable institution. But when school treasures start to go missing, they are swept up into a gripping detective story, the unravelling of which will require some outside assistance…

A note on the tone of the book and how it came about

When I was little, like many fathers mine used to sit at the end of my bed, either reading from ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ or telling me stories of his own creation, about woodland animals, bears, badgers, porcupines and squirrels. I’ve always wanted to illustrate a children’s book, so Dad and I had been discussing a joint venture for quite some time. Our book would be traditional – my Dad’s in his seventies and (at twenty seven) I’m that funny mix of an old and young soul, who loves the idea of living like Beatrix Potter. Our characters would be witty and satirical British types, like those you might find in ‘Wind in the Willows’, and they would be dressed as if they lived in the 1940s!

And so we settled upon the animal residents of St James’s Park in London, an historic and very British location at the foot of Buckingham Palace and the Churchill War Rooms. Before my family uprooted to the countryside when I was eight years old, we were Londoners, and for a few years I used to attend a rather pushy girls school called Frances Holland. One of the characters in Dad’s bedtime stories was an extravagantly dressed squirrel (always clad with a briefcase) who spoke endlessly and haughtily about his days at ‘Frances Holland School for Squirrels’! He was a hooray-Henry type, as a six year old I thought he was hilarious, so he had to inspire our book.

Dad moved the ‘Whispers in the Park’ schoolhouse from the streets of Chelsea to the leafy greens of St James’s, where the squirrel students could play blissfully in nature and swim in the lakes. Ironically, we realised, this was more reminiscent of the wilder days I spent scrambling up trees at my countryside prep school; Pinewood School, in Witshire, where I spent some happy years after the age of eight. So much so, that we named the jovial headmaster and pastoral headmistress after my own at Pinewood. Mr Hoyland (Phillip) was enormous fun, a typical prep school headmaster, the heart of the school just like HM Squirrel Horatio Hoyland. He spent very little time worrying about silly things like ‘health and safety,’ encouraging the more enjoyable aspects of youth, like sporting fixtures, ice skating on the lake and school-wide snowball fights.

Dad and I would discuss the school themes and the key characters while we walked the dogs together at home, and on the occasional stroll in London, where I live. Dad writes brilliantly, having produced a successful novel and a popular memoir over the years alongside his work as a businessman. He would send me passages from the book as his imagination flowed just like it used to, chapter by chapter, and although I’m sure I must’ve been quite annoying, he accepted most of my feedback (there were times when I worried it might be just a little too old-fashioned for a woke generation!)

Quite quickly, we had introduced the full teaching staff, and the mysteries were afoot! Alongside the ‘games master’ and other recognisable types from one’s childhood, we added some London locals to the park, such as the criminal mastermind Fabian Fox. Fabian is a suspicious character, and yet somewhat likeable in his fierce defending of the park’s traditions and history. He is always flamboyantly dressed with his waistcoat and silver-topped cane, representing ‘old London’, with a superior knowledge of all the park’s secrets. As the story began to take a turn towards mystery solving, we introduced Sam, the detective Siamese cat or ‘Head of the Watch’ in South London. Dad slightly surprised me by revealing that Sam was a strong female character, a real professional at the top of her game, with an intriguing past that is never truly revealed, other than murmurings of high profile cases and an ancient Egyptian medallion swinging around her neck…

A note on colour

With the traditional tone of the book, and Dad’s writing style that, although easy to read, uses a variety of language and doesn’t dumb down too much for the children, we decided to convert my illustrations into black and white, adding captions from the text below them; a nostalgic trope. This development truly harks back to early editions of ‘Wind in the Willows’, and we hope that some parents might enjoy reading our book to their children too. However, as stylistically I am naturally drawn to colour, I converted my original vibrant illustrations into a set of collector’s colour prints, which I will be selling from the Shop page of my website.

Order ‘Whispers in the Park’ from Amazon or buy SIGNED COPIES from my Shop in time for Christmas.

Learn More about my upcoming books

Want to read on? My Dad has written an article for the writer’s magazine Book Brunch, on the experience of working with his daughter on ‘Whispers in the Park’!

‘Whispers in the Park’ has been reviewed in the Baking Bar Christmas Guide.