At night, the wind blows through the rigging of the boat where Laurel lives. Sweet aromas float across the water and surprise her—as though they’d traveled from another land. One night, Laurel is transported across the water to an ancient world of mystery.
In this gorgeously illustrated and poetically written story, you will discover the wonder of Byzantium’s capital city, Constantinople, at the height of its glory. At the center is the magnificent church of Holy Wisdom, where the worship of God unfolds in splendor while the wind dances through the trees. This book will cultivate in the young a taste for the mystical and rekindle wonder in adult readers. In the waking dreams of a single little girl, this edifying tale explores in an alluring whirlwind both the power of remembrance and the beauty of truth, all centered around Christ’s glorious resurrection.
About the Author: Gaelan Gilbert is a writer and teacher who has lived in California, Greece, Canada, and the American heartland. He received a PhD in English from the University of Victoria, BC, where he enjoyed studying alliterative dream-vision poems like Pearl and Piers Plowman. He has published academic scholarship in literary and theological studies, and also a collection of poems, One Is Found First.
Gaelan is the headmaster of Christ the Savior Academy in Wichita, KS, where he lives with his wife and family, and is a visiting professor of Arts & Humanities at the University of St. Katherine in San Diego, CA. Laurel and the Wind is his first children’s book, and it began as a bedtime story for his children. Although currently far from the sea, he sails whenever he can on a nearby lake in his daggerboard craft, Signy.
About the Illustrator: Ned Gannon earned a B.F.A. degree from the Kansas City Art Institute and an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York. His art has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators in New York and the Society of Illustrators in Los Angeles, as well as the Communications Arts juried “Illustration Annual.” His work has been exhibited or represented in collections in fourteen countries. He has works in the permanent collection of Isle Royale National Park and the Staten Island Museum in New York. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, two kids, and his adopted dog, Storm.