Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast) features making her debut, the amazing Andrea Hailwood, author of The Friendly Show series.
The Friendly Show series is a ongoing series of books where guided by the Stories of the Ancestors, the sceptical squirrels are on a fairy tale adventure to uncover truths, mysteries and secrets about themselves, their environment and their relationship with humans.
Inspired by folklore, nature and real life squirrels, The Friendly Show! is a series full of twists and turns which all come full circle and is recommended for fans of Watership Dawn and Wind in the Willows to name but a few.
More details and how to purchase the books can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CLKVXSTR?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0Q5dKAzI2Pd4pNvPqlYJK0F-vFKjiizoi6tH6cCFvpKpqvA-n_3ZANalI_aem_W7k_YF70-8_MxNG55X2Jog
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Can be streamed / downloaded from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXtgDvHHfA (Chat)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNpUwT_xvdM (Reading)
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/andrea-hailwood-spoken-label-january-2025/id1501847969?i=1000684949838
https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Andrea-Hailwood-Spoken-Label--January-2025-e2td663
https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/697008e9-7bb8-4fbf-b34a-f7dbac2301ab/spoken-label-andrea-hailwood-spoken-label-january-2025
https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Andrea-Hailwood-Spoken-Label-January-2025/B0DTP3LVPV?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=F3MRGYPQAX5SRSPA518S&plink=gbRc0ypBDyR7sIAE&pageLoadId=JyZLwGtVzSQ0JYZ1&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_0
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3WsJy0hCcnB77L0eBZExGz
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As a bonus, Andrea has transcribed the full of the Chat segment of this Podcast which is as follows:
Andy N (0:48) Hi, it’s Andy
N from Spoken Label. Thank you today for streaming or downloading another
episode of Spoken Label. Spoken Label was originally set up on beginning of
2016 and of speaking, has currently nearly 300 sessions. The full archive is
available on SpokenLabel.Bandcamp.com. Although it is available to fee to
stream and download if you wish, I am always grateful for any sort of kind of
donation to enable to keep me the running costs of this podcast going and
enjoy. Take care, bye bye.
Spoken Label.
Andy N: (1:32) Hey
guys, Andy N, Spoken Label, back in the house on a Sunday morning and you might
have noticed that I’ve got, one… I’ve got four layers on today ‘cause it snowed
overnight in Manchester. And, yeah, well, we’re gonna do something. I’m inside,
well, reasonably warm, but my guest today is sat outside and there’s a reason
behind this. And we’ve got the fantastic Andrea with us today. Now, Andrea
Hailwood, Andrea has got two books out today and we’ll talk about this shortly
but to give us a feel for the location, she’s actually sat outside near where
the books are set. Now, Andrea, before we start, do you want to move your
camera round so everyone can see what the area is like where we are?
Andrea: Yeah, hello
everyone. This is my garden, this is the Abundant Garden out of The Book of the
Ancestors. So, I don’t know if you can see, it’s like a winter wonderland. Very
snowy. I’ll stand up. Very snowy. Can you see the snow?
Andy N: (2:33) Wow, can
yeah.
Andrea: Very snowy.
Andy N: (2:36) Oh yeah. I
think you’ve had more, ‘cause obviously like, look at the snow. I’m not moving
my laptop to show everybody outside now where we are. We had about six inches
overnight and I think yours is not as bad as ours, actually. But it’s still,
it’s still cold, isn’t it? So.
Andrea: Yeah, it’s been
raining now, so it’s like disappearing, it’s turning into sludge. It’s sludgy.
Andy N: (2:57) Oh yeah,
we’ve got the same as well, so. But hey, it’s still beautiful to look at, just
a bugger to get around on. [LAUGHS] Definitely with that, so. Now, Andrea,
we’ve got a bit of ground to cover today with your two books that we’re going
to talk about shortly. But there’s a good story behind this and I want you to
tell people about where all this creativity came from because I think it’s
really, really interesting to start with. So, take us back in time.
Andrea: Well, it started
during lockdown. Well, before lockdown actually, because I’ve always been
interested in gardening and [LAUGHS], you wanna know about the little girl next
door?
Andy N: (3:34) Oh of
course, yeah.
Andrea: She said to me,
“Andrea, why are you always in the garden? You don’t have to be in the garden
every single day.” And I was like, well, I do because I want the garden to look
nice, and it was gorgeous weather, and it was hot. Remember the COVID year? It
was just amazing. Why would you wanna be inside during that? So, I said, “Well,
I do actually need to be in the garden every single day ‘cause I’m making an
Instagram.” And I’d not actually got the Instagram going then, so I had to make
this Instagram. So, that was the start of it. And then, that was during the
summer. And then by the time the autumn came I was posting, like, every single
day basically, all the garden, everything that I was doing. And I bought a big
mound of tulip bulbs, a big, massive box of them…
Andy N: (4:20) Wow.
Andrea: …On sale and I dug
them all, spend two days digging all these in, blisters on my hands and
everything, and then the next day, the third day, I looked out the window and
all the tulip bulbs had all been dug up and eaten. And that was the squirrels.
So, I was like, this is no good. All that time, all that money wasted, and
these squirrels are causing havoc every single day. And then I thought, “Well,
if they’re not hungry, they won’t eat all my stuff and dig up all my stuff.”
So, I got them a little red parasol on a picnic table with a little silver
bowl, and I’ll show you that in a minute. And I filled it full of nuts, monkey
nuts and all types of nuts, and then they just go there all the time and eat
all the stuff and basically leave all my stuff alone. So, and then, I had…
[LAUGHS] this is how we interacted with the squirrels. So, I had a nut like
this and a squirrel came, oh, I’ll have to get another one. And the squirrel
came, and he was on the bin and I just held the nut out like that, and he just
came out and took it straight out of my hand. So, that’s how Friendly started.
So, that was Friendly the Squirrel ‘cause he was obviously friendly. And that’s
how the whole thing started. So, instead of videoing my garden, I just started
videoing the squirrels and put them all on Instagram and there’s hundreds of
videos on Instagram of all these squirrels.
Andy N: (5:46) It’s a
wonder to see Instagram feed and also your Facebook pages shows all these
little squirrels because it’s wonderful, wonderful stuff. So.
Andrea: There’s not as much
on Facebook, there’s a lot more on Instagram.
Andy N: (6:03) Yeah,
definitely.
Andrea: Andrea.in.the.garden
Andy N: (6:05) Yeah, we’ll
re-mention that at the end of it, ‘cause it’s well worth a subscription to
that, ‘cause it’s beautiful. That one straight away is. But let’s, okay, we’re
here to talk about your books today and obviously there’s two out at the moment
and I know there’s more on the way, but we will talk about the later ones
later.
Andrea: Yeah.
Andy N: (6:21) Now,
obviously, first of all, tell us where the idea for these books came from, the
series, then?
Andrea: Well, it started
about, like, two years ago, exactly probably about two years ago. And I work
freelance and the work had pretty much slowed down, so I was like, well, I need
to do something. So, [LAUGHS] and I’m not gonna work in an office, there’s no
way that’s gonna happen. So, I was just mooching around the internet, just
looking at stuff and I saw this competition for a kids’ book. And I thought,
“That is, I am doing that, and I am gonna win this money.” It was £10,000. I am
gonna actually gonna win this money. So, I started like, thinking and I was
like, “What am I gonna write?” I didn’t know what I was gonna write about at
the time, but I was like, “I am gonna win this money, I’m gonna write a book,
it’s gonna be amazing, I’m gonna win the money, everything’s gonna be fine.”
And then, I thought, “Well, there’s only one thing I can really write about and
that’s the squirrels.” [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (7:24) Aw.
Andrea: I don’t know where
the inspiration came from. I just woke up one morning and I was like, well, a
few mornings, and I was like, “Oh, that’s gonna happen, that’s gonna happen,
that’s gonna happen.” And it took me a while with Bentley, to be fair, who’s
like, the main character of the first book, to get that all put together. So,
from January, it basically took me about a year to write that book. And me and
Ken went to Spain in the summer, we spent two months in Spain in the summer,
which was just magical, and then all the inspiration just came up. Like, the
Boring Beetle, right? That actually happened. So, in the story, Friendly wakes
up and he’s got a pyramid of sawdust on his nose where he thinks that Big Al is
up there making a drey above his head. And we actually saw the pyramids of the
sawdust because the boring beetle larvae were eating my mum’s table and it was
falling off the table and it was underneath the table. So, that’s where that
came from, that idea. And yeah, the big tree. Well, I’ll show you in a minute,
there’s a massive tree behind me here. This is where the squirrels’ drey is,
actually. I’ve got a eucalyptus in front of me, but in Spain, at the back is a
massive, like, the biggest eucalyptus tree you could ever imagine, and that’s where
the boring beetles are, you can see the actual holes in the wood. And that’s
where the inspiration from that came from.
Andy N: (8:59) Wow.
Andrea: It’s just, like,
noticing things like that and you can just put it all together. I’ll show you
the greenhouse in a minute where the actual Singing Frog, and that Singing
Frog, it actually happened. There was a frog trapped in the greenhouse.
Andy N: (9:13) Well, I’ll
tell you what, before we go onto more details about the books, go and show us
these then, take us round, okay? Give us a tour then.
Andrea: Do you want me to
show you?
Andy N: (9:20) Yeah, show
us now ‘cause I will forget to ask you otherwise, yeah.
Andrea: I know, I don’t
want to forget. So, this is the biggest tree. Everyone hates Leylandiis because
they grow absolutely massive and this tree must be about, I don’t even know,
maybe like, 60 foot tall. I’ll show you the trunk, like, just the absolute—This
is in the bottom of my garden. So, this is the trunk. Can you see?
Andy N: (9:47) Wow. Wow.
Good grief, wow.
Andrea: You can’t even hug
it, it’s that big. So, if you look, and there’s actually squirrels’ dreys up
there, and magpies and that’s the, I mean the inspiration from it, it just
comes from noticing things. I’m gonna stand right back over there and I’ll show
the actually size of this tree. People don’t like it ‘cause it’s just so big. I
love it. Oh, Ken says all the time, “Shall we cut that tree down?” I’m like,
“Why would you cut the tree down?” Oh, let me get my camera together. You can’t
even see the top of it. Let me walk a bit further up. Can you see it?
Andy N: (10:34) Yeah, I
can. Wow.
Andrea: That’s how big the
tree is.
Andy N: (10:37) Good grief.
Andrea: That is massive.
So, you’ve got the squirrels in there, you’ve got, oh, woodpeckers in there,
one year we had two doves, which was just fantastic. All sorts. Magpies,
blackbirds singing at the top. Oh, it’s really cold out here. So, I’ll show
you. So, that’s the big tree. This is the eucalyptus tree that Bentley climbs
up when Lance goes missing and everyone thinks Lance is stuck in this shed, and
his little face pops out, there’s the little window that his face pops out
[LAUGHS].
Andy N: (11:21) Brilliant
stuff, oh, good grief.
Andrea: There’s the
greenhouse and it’s probably, in the story, it’s a mess this, so, this is
probably what it looked like in the story. And it’s all being cleaned out. And
the frog was actually in the corner. I don’t know if you can see, but the frog
was actually in that corner.
Andy N: (11:42) Oh, good
grief.
Andrea: Underneath a
plastic bag. And this is when we got back from Spain from two months, so whether
it had been there for two months, I don’t know. But it was still alive and it
was still…
Andy N: (11:54) Oh wow.
Andrea: You know, making
frog noises.
Andy N: (11:57) Incredible
stuff.
Andrea: Yeah, so, I mean,
well, I don’t know how long it had been in there, but, yeah, it was there. So,
we call that the secret garden.
Andy N: (12:12) It’s
brilliant.
Andrea: It’s all the way
down there. Yeah.
Andy N: (12:17) Oh, wow.
Andrea: This is the not
secret part. There’s the pond where a squirrel fell in one time and a squirrel
actually did fall in the pond. And I’m gonna show you this, red umbrella. So,
this is the first thing that I bought for the squirrels, but they need a new
one actually. Let me move my camera, can you see it?
Andy N: (12:44) Oh, yes, I
can. Oh, fantastic. Yeah, move a bit more, that’s it, you got it, you’ve got it
now. Brilliant stuff, yeah.
Andrea: Yeah, that’s it.
So, that is like, oh no, I’m stuck in trees here. So, it’s more than two years
now that, actually, so yeah. So, that’s there. Yeah, that’s it. The black
bucket is over here, which is what everyone drinks out of, the squirrels, all
the neighbourhood cats.
Andy N: (13:16) Your bit,
oh yeah, your bit of community service that one, basically, all the animals
coming round, isn’t it? [LAUGHS]
Andrea: Yeah, all the
animals are in, everyone’s cat is in here, if anyone has got a missing cat,
it’s here. And we’ve got a couple of
cats actually. Actually, there’s cats that do come here which are gonna
be—Well, one of them is long term fostered by us, there’s two cats, we call
them Charles and Camilla. They’re gonna be in book 3 actually, and they’re just
gonna be called Somebody Else’s Cat.
Andy N: (13:51) Love it,
oh.
Andrea: So, we’ve got the
Black and White Cat. Yeah, the Black and White Cat in the story, that’s my cat
who got run over, sadly, like, three years ago. So, but he was nearly 17. So.
Andy N: (14:04) Ooh.
Andrea: Yeah.
Andy N: (14:06) Good age.
Andrea: I want to show you
one other thing, actually.
Andy N: (14:08) Hmm, please
do.
Andrea: Yeah. So, in the
second book, the main character is a character called Honesty and Honesty is an
actual plant. I don’t know if you know. I don’t know the real name of it, but
if you know plants, you know Honesty. And I’m gonna show you a leaf of an
Honesty plant. It’s just—Can you see it there?
Andy N: (14:34) Uh, oh,
hang on. Try that again, it froze a bit then, apologies to everybody trying to
watch this on video then. Ah, yeah, got it, got it. Little bit more lower if
you can. Yeah, got it, yeah.
Andrea: There, can you see
it? I’ll send you a picture of it.
Andy N: (14:49) Yeah, send
me a picture, it might be easier and I’ll make sure it gets attached onto the
video.
Andrea: I’ll send you a
picture of it. So, the honesty plants, they take two years to grow, so these
plants that are growing now, they’ll have reseeded from two years ago, from not
last summer, the summer before. And then this year, they’re gonna… I wonder if
I’ve got any. They’re gonna grow into really purple spikey, like, tall, spiked
flower stems. And when the plants have finished, when the flowers are finished,
they have, some people call them silver pennies, like, seed pods. Thought I
might have some. Yeah, I’ve got one here. Let me just snap one off. I don’t
know if you recognise these? That’s honesty.
Andy N: (15:44) Oh,
brilliant stuff.
Andrea: Do you recognise it
from your childhood?
Andy N: (15:47) I’m useless
at that stuff. Probably yeah, it’s like a fairy thing, but it’s not my
expertise at all, but wow.
Andrea: Yeah. So, that’s
honesty and that’s where Honesty got her name from. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (15:59) Oh,
brilliant. Brilliant. Nice. Oh, fantastic. Now, obviously--
Andrea: I’m sliding in the
snow.
Andy N: (16:05) Yeah. Now,
that gives us a good feel for what the books have come from there, definitely
with that one. Now, obviously, the book itself, we know there’s two at the
minute and I know there’s at least a third on the way and but tell us a bit
more about—‘Cause you told me obviously, when we talked pre-camera last week
about the background of these books, didn’t you? So, it’s like, you’ve come to
it, like I am, a bit later in life. Had these books always been there growing
up, do you reckon, or they just sneaked to the surface after your freelance
work calmed down a bit temporarily?
Andrea: Funny you should
say that, ‘cause like, about 20 years ago, my grandad said I should write a
book. He kept saying to me, “Write a book, write a book.” And I was like, 20
years ago, I was like, well, I don’t know what I’m going to write about. So,
that was shelved at the back of my mind, but I’ve always been— I love fairy
stories, I’ve always loved and I think fairies are real, actually. So, I think
they do exist.
Andy N: (17:07) I do as
well.
Andrea: How can you not?
Even if they don’t, how can you not believe it, just for the sake of believing
something? So, yeah, I’ve always like, really, really loved fairy stories and I
mean, the second story, The Story of the Lost Squirrel, that is like, there’s a
couple of fairy stories in there that I’ve retold. Um, yeah, I just love them.
But as for writing a book, no. I mean, when we spoke a couple of days ago and I
was telling you I didn’t go to college for art when I was younger, but I did
get a degree in biochemistry. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (17:48) [LAUGHS]
It’s typical that. Now, yeah, we’d better mention, obviously you mentioned
about the art thing, obviously because both books have got some fantastic
drawings in them. And you told me
obviously a couple of days ago, didn’t you like, the drawings have come
naturally to the voice of the book, didn’t they, really?
Andrea: Yeah.
Andy N: (18:05) And they’re
beautiful, beautiful stuff.
Andrea: Yeah, so, when I
was writing the first book and I was thinking, “Yeah, they need a bit of a
picture or something.” And I thought, “Should I get someone to do for me?” And
then I thought, “No, ‘cause if someone did it and they didn’t do it the way I
wanted it to be, it would just be awkward.” So, I thought, “I’ll just do it
myself.” And I just got a pencil and I just drew a squirrel and then just drew
another one and kept drawing them and [LAUGHS] that’s how it turned out.
Andy N: (18:39) Yeah, I get
you completely. And when people look at the illustrations in it, the full book
as with the drawings for me is a big labour of love and it shows it completely.
And that’s why--
Andrea: Oh, do you think?
Andy N: (18:52) Yeah, I do,
I think you can tell, like, you’ve definitely really enjoyed doing it, it means
a lot to you.
Andrea: Oh, I did. Do you
know what? For the third book, so I’ve planned it all out about, over the
summer, basically, after the second book had been published, after I’d
published it myself actually, it’s not been published. And so, I planned it all
out and I didn’t look at until maybe like, just before Christmas. Opening it,
it’s like seeing old friends. Old Friendly and you know, we’ve got new Cosmos
in. I’m like, “Oh my God, all my old friends are here in this folder.” [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (19:31) And the
full thing really came to life in fact, the full book, it did. And that’s what
I think is really, really charming about it. Now, I know you told me as well,
didn’t you? This surprised you, and it surprised me actually a bit, was there
is definitely a Wind in the Willows sort of feel to this, except it’s set in
Chorlton, but you hadn’t even read Wind in the Willows, had you until was it,
three quarters of the way through the first book?
Andrea: Well, no, oh, no,
that was Watership Down.
Andy N: (20:00) Oh,
Watership Down, I apologise.
Andrea: It was Watership
Down.
Andy N: (20:04) That was
it, I apologise.
Andrea: I’ve actually got a
strange fact about Watership Down actually that you might find interesting.
Andy N: (20:12) Oh yeah,
what’s that?
Andrea: So, if you search
“Watership Down banned”, so apparently it was banned in China, the book was
banned in China in 1965 but it wasn’t actually published until 1971. So, how
does that work?
Andy N: (20:26) That’s a
bit weird, isn’t it?
Andrea: That’s strange
that.
Andy N: (20:28) That is
very, very strange indeed. Oh, good grief, yeah. I see what you mean with that,
that’s a lot. I’ll look into that, definitely.
Andrea: That’s really
weird. How does that work?
Andy N: (20:40) Yeah, I’ve
read the original Watership Down when I was a kid, ‘cause I’m, like, I’m old
enough to remember it and I read it when I was about 10. And it was like, it’s
quite a shocking book in some ways, but then like, you watch, the cartoon’s
beautiful, then I was less keen on the remake, but that’s a story for another
day that. So, but yeah. Oh, no, wow, completely. Now, obviously, like, I said
to you, I think the key here is background with this, obviously with all your
background here and your garden and showing it to you, and I love the fact it’s
set in Chorlton itself and if you know Chorlton, you’ll soon know it. It is
purely Chorlton. And do you find, like, setting it in some like, background, an
area you know really well, has it brought the book alive for you more,
particularly the first one?
Andrea: Yeah, definitely,
yeah. Well, the cemetery, obviously is Southern Cemetery. The park is Chorlton
Park. The Health Food Shop is Holland and Barratt in Chorlton. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (21:43) Got that,
yeah, got that completely. That’s what I mean, it’s just like, it’s just
something, I think it’s just something that’s naturally very English and what
you’ve done is you’ve really brought it to life like that and I think it’s
brilliant. You’ve encouraged people with this, and it works really well, both
the books here. It’s the fact that like, you’ve actually done it, and if people
look at this, they will see, it will make you look at an area in a different
way. ‘Cause Chorlton is such a green area anyway, if you know where to look.
Andrea: Yeah. Definitely.
Well, Wuhan Wood is an actual wood. Wuhan Wood, that’s where Narkissa lives, it
is an actual wood and it’s at Hough End. So, apparently, some year ago,
Manchester City Council made some sort of friendship with China and then they
planted this wood, well, it’s not really a wood, it’s like a group of trees,
basically. I suppose, yeah, it’s a wood. And they called it Wuhan Wood. But I
don’t think anyone would ever know about this. And if you’re walking down
Princess Park—do you call it Princess Parkway or Princess Road? I’ve always
called it Princess Parkway because I’m old. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (22:57) I am as
well, so, it’s like, I worked at the top in Benchill in Wythenshawe for a while
and I used to get the bus down from there every day from the back of where I
lived with my parents in Stretford, so yeah, it’s Princess Parkway to me, so
like it or not, yeah.
Andrea: So, if you go there
on the side of where they’ve build the new leisure centre and you look, that’s
where Wuhan Wood is. It’s sort of in between the cemetery, or the allotments
and the new leisure centre. And the only thing that you can see that it’s got
any indication that it’s called that, it looks like a gravestone, believe it or
not. And it says, it’s got the explanation of the Wuhan Wood. I should have
gone up there, actually and found more details.
Andy N: (23:43) I’ll tell
you what we’ll do now, I promise you this now, okay, people this exclusive
this. When it gets a bit nicer, I’ll come up to your area and we’ll meet up and
I’ll bring Amanda, my wife down, she loves nature. And then we can do an audio
talk, you can walk us around places like that and we can have a look at it, the
tree of us, so I promise you that now, right. So, we’ll sort that out.
Andrea: Oh yeah, that’d be
really good. And around the cemetery as well.
Andy N: (24:10) Definitely,
I’ve not come up to your side of Chorlton for ages, so yeah, brilliant, anyway,
that’s for the future, right. I said to you, like, when did you know, obviously,
with the books, it was gonna be a series? Did you know that right from the
beginning, or…?
Andrea: Yeah, I did. I did.
But I didn’t know how many books it was gonna be. ‘Cause sometimes I got a bit ambitious
thinking, “It could be 10 books out of this.” You know.
Andy N: (24:37) Could be.
Andrea: Well, there might
be because I mean, there’s like, a lot of, there could be a lot of off shoots
all over, so I mean, there’s a lot of squirrels, we’re never gonna run out of
squirrels. So, yeah, but the third book, ‘cause I’ve got it all planned out,
and I was gonna do a fourth book. I’ve not actually written the whole of the
third book, so you’ll have to wait and see for that one, what’s gonna happen. I
don’t know.
Andy N: (25:08) We’ll come
onto that in what’s next, okay, near the end.
Andrea: Yeah, it could be a
big cliff hanger or, yeah, might be. There’s a big shocker in the third book,
it’s shocking.
Andy N: (25:21) Yeah,
definitely we’ll leave that alone for the moment ‘cause I want to know a bit
more about the second book first of all, The Story of the Lost Squirrel.
Andrea: Oh, alright, okay.
Andy N: (25:28) We’ll talk
a bit about that first and we’ll move onto the third one, because I want to
make sure people know about this. We’ve hinted before, like, Holland and
Barrett comes into, the shop actually comes into the second book and also some
other human made things as well. But what made you want to bring in the Holland
and Barrett as a brand, which I love anyway, so there’s no bad mouthing here,
they’re a great brand. Iconic health shop. What made you want to bring that
into the second book?
Andrea: Oh, if a squirrel,
well, because I mean, where you do go—if you was a squirrel and you needed to
go somewhere to get your nuts and your fruits and your bits and stuff,
whatever. Where would you go? You’d go to the health food shop, wouldn’t you?
Andy N: (26:10) Yeah.
Andrea: You would go there.
There’s where that came from. And then they get into the roof space and, it’s
obviously insulated and when Friendly gets in there-- ‘Cause he’s the architect
and the builder for all the squirrels and he finds that [LAUGHS] it’s got this
insulation in it and he’s like in awe, because he wants to bring all the
insulation out and insulate everyone’s dreys with all the insulation from the
Health Food Shop.
Andy N: (26:41) Fantastic.
Andrea: Poor Friendly has a
bad time, you know? He fell out of his drey when he was a baby, Big Al pushes
him out of the tree and he falls out of the tree there in book one. And then in
book two, he falls through the ceiling of the Health Food Shop. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (26:59) I noticed
that, oh, there’s an innocence behind it that I absolutely love. ‘Cause the
fact is like, he absolutely causes chaos but it doesn’t seem to stop him, does
it?
Andrea: Yeah, there’s a
display of protein powders and he falls into the protein powders and obviously
he goes, “Boof” and some of them, there’s just protein powder dust everywhere
and he’s just in a big mess and doesn’t know where he is. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (27:30) Oh, but I
think you need that sort of adventure in a character like him anyway because
it’s the innocence and like, if you don’t have someone like him—he’s like a
damsel in distress.
Andrea: He is!
Andy N: (27:43) Or a clown,
actually, you could argue as well, like a Charlie Chaplin sort of clown isn’t
it, really? And then of course you know when you reading the book there’s one
character that’s gonna cause bedlam whether he ends up needing rescue or his
causing chaos, and that’s him for you.
Andrea: Yeah. But his
character, he thinks he’s like the king of the squirrels and he’s got this
book, The Book of the Ancestors, and he knows all the answers to everything
because he reads this book and he can help all the squirrels and he’s a really
good builder as well, and he thinks he is absolutely God’s gift to squirrels. But
he’s just as disaster [LAUGHS] he just gets into all sorts.
Andy N: (28:21) I like it
for that reason, ‘cause it really adds something to like, like it’s delusional,
that’s the word I think I’d use for it, and it’s brilliant. It’s absolutely
brilliant with that one, so, but yeah, no, I agree with you completely with
that. No, something that I’ve already mentioned with this, obviously you told
me before on pre record, which I didn’t know about. Obviously there’s a Black
and White Cat in the book, isn’t there? And it obviously was your cat, wasn’t
he, which you lost sadly, a couple of years ago.
Andrea: Yeah, that’s the
magic cat. He knows everything as well. He’s very quiet. You won’t see a lot of
him, actually. You don’t see him in the second book, but you see him again in
the third. He goes on his holiday in the second book. There’s a big food shortage
in the second book, and poor Honesty, she is so wrapped up with everything
that’s going on, she’s, you know, making mountains out of molehills, basically,
and she thinks because someone’s said, “Oh, there’s a food shortage,” she is
like, “There’s a food shortage.” She doesn’t even look at any other option.
There’s a food shortage. So, she’s panicking. She works at The Newspaper, she’s
getting all this information, and she’s just, you know, like, wrapped up in
what’s going on, without looking at a big picture, so.
Andy N: (29:36) That’s
another point we need to mention, about The Newspaper. What made you want to
put a squirrel in a newspaper? That is in my notes, that one.
Andrea: Well, The Newspaper
is like social media to us. And that’s like squirrel social media. So, and the
squirrels are all telling The Newspaper, like, what’s going on and there’s
obviously a reason why there is a Newspaper, and you’ll know that at the end,
so. But they exaggerate it, and obviously, well, Narkissa is stealing all the babies,
and we all know this from the start. And nobody knows that it’s her that
stealing the babies, so, there’s like the point of view from the squirrels,
like, what’s going? Where are all these babies going? And then The Newspaper is
trying to figure out who is taking these babies and once they realise it’s
Narkissa, you know. That’s it, really. But poor Narkissa, she comes to a bit of
a sticky end. Or maybe not.
Andy N: (30:44) Or maybe
not, wait and see. When we get to book 20 you might bring her back to life like
a zombie squirrel or something, or shall we say, right? We’ll leave that for
the future, definitely, but yeah, brilliant stuff indeed. Now, obviously start
winding down then, is there much you want to tell us about book three then so
far? Have you got a title for book three even?
Andrea: Yeah, well, at the
minute it’s called The Tale of the Time.
Andy N: (31:09) Oh, I like
that.
Andrea: And it’s, yeah, The
Tale of the Time, and it’s set in Chorlton again.
Andy N: (31:18) Awesome.
Andrea: You’ll know all the
places once again. Still there. Still in the Abundant Garden, which is based on
this garden. [LAUGHS] Friendly is the hero in book three. That’s all I’m gonna
say about that. He is a hero. So, you might think he’s a bumbling, you know,
clown, but he comes out trumps in book three.
Andy N: (31:40) Yeah, I
know what you mean with it. I think sometimes with that is he eventually comes
into his own, doesn’t he? And there always is, with a character, a main
character, but they’ve gotta go through a journey and I think that there does
make sense to you, honestly, straight away too. That’s some brilliant stuff,
so. No, Brillant.
Andrea: Yeah. So, yeah, the
book actually, I’ve not mentioned this, but my freelance work, I transcribe TV
and I do a lot of reality TV shows and if you’re in a reality TV show, you’ve
got to speak in present tense and so many people struggle with it. And the book
is written in present tense, and for that, but not for that reason, but The
Friendly Show! - every time I put squirrels on Instagram I was like, “Welcome
to the Friendly Show!” [LAUGHS] in the beginning.
Andy N: (32:32) Brilliant.
Andrea: That’s where The
Friendly Show! came from yeah. I need to start posting again.
Andy N: (32:37) That’s a
great idea that, indeed. I wish you all the best with it, Andrea, straight away
with it, so because I’ve loved the first two myself and I can highly recommend
them, I gave both five out of five and for good reason, I don’t always do that.
Andrea: Oh, I’m glad you
like, I’m really pleased you like them. Everyone who’s read them, they’re like,
“Oh, yeah, I really like them.” My next door neighbour, the new little girl who
lives next door, she’s read the first book and she’s like, “Oh, I love it, I
just love it.” I’ve not given her the second one yet, I’ve not seen her
actually.
Andy N: (33:07) It’s very individual.
Yeah, it’s like, you’ve done two now, obviously and there’s definitely gonna be
a third, you’re not sure yet what you’re gonna do beyond that yet, but you’re
right, when you looking at what you’re doing round there, there’s so much
scope, you could set it anywhere else couldn’t you, even really, around that
area? Over squirrels. And maybe other animals even, who knows?
Andrea: Well, there’s a lot
of animals in The Book of the Ancestors, there’s a lot of animals. You’ve got
Harper the Hedgehog and The Singing Frog, you’ve got the Badgers, which is
another retelling of the Magic Porridge Pot. Before we go, I’ve got recommend a
book and it’s called Chinse Fairy Tales. And I was reading it the other day,
actually and it’s a big hard back with a beautiful cover. And Ken came in, he
was like, “What you reading? Are you reading the Bible?” I was like, “No, it’s
the Chinese Fairy Tales.” And there’s a little fairy tale in that book, which
is what gave me the idea of the Badgers in book two, and it’s called The Magic
Cask. And if you ever get that book, you read it, you’ll think, “Oh, my god.”
Andy N: (34:27) Yeah.
Andrea: Those Chinese fairy
tales are like, ooh. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (34:30) Yeah, I’ve
heard they are all, shall we say a bit different to the European ones that we
maybe used to, that’s for sure, with it. That’s a good way of putting it,
straight away.
Andrea: Yeah. Poor Grandad
gets kicked into the cask and they’re like, they have to get all the dead
granddads out, because he keels over and falls in the cask and all the dead
grandads are all piling up.
Andy N: (34:54) Oh,
[LAUGHS] wonderful. Grizzly, but wonderful, oh god, completely. Oh wow, that’s
fantastic, indeed. Now, lastly I want to get on before we give the details of
how people can get hold of you and stuff, there’s a wonderful little video on
your Instagram and I want people to know about this, ‘cause I think it’s a
brilliant story of, what I was talking about before, your cat that you’ve kind
of adopted. And it shows your relationship with squirrels where you’ve got your
adopted cat sat with you, who’s a beautiful ginger cat, and you’re trying to
feed your--
Andrea: Oh, not that’s not
the one.
Andy N: (35:28) Oh, is that
the wrong one?
Andrea: Yeah, that’s
Charlie, that’s Charles.
Andy N: (35:32) Apologize, apologise,
Charlie.
Andrea: No, Charles goes
home at night and Camilla stays, but Charles is, I’m surprised they’re not here
actually, I’m surprised there’s no squirrels and there’s no cats, ‘cause that’s
all that’s here. Maybe I’m talking too loud or something, I don’t know. But yeah.
[LAUGHS] No, that’s Charlie.
Andy N: (35:52) Oh apologies,
my fault, well the video anyway is basically you’re feeding one of your
squirrels and Charlie is sat with you. And I’m thinking to myself, all along, I
thought, “There’s no way that squirrel’s gonna come near you with a cat sat
next to you.” And he did. Didn’t he?
Andrea: He did, yeah. Well, a coupe of the squirrels
are really, really tame and one of them actually comes into the living room and
sits on the chair and sits next to me and eating his nuts. In summer I can’t
keep the windows open [LAUGHS] ‘cause he just comes in.
Andy N: (36:22) Oh,
completely.
Andrea: If you ever hear a
squirrel in your house, you know it’s a squirrel ‘cause, I mean, they’re only
like, tiny little creatures but they’ve got big back legs and they really sound
like elephants in your house.
Andy N: (36:34) [LAUGHS]
Andrea: Honestly, one time
we had a squirrel actually in the roof space of the house, like, this was years
and years ago, and yeah, that was traumatic. I don’t recommend like, yeah, I
don’t think—My mum always says, “Oh, don’t have squirrels in the house,” but like,
there’s only one and he only comes in, gets a nut, goes again. It’s not like
he’s chewing through the wires and all that, like everyone says, you know,
you’ll have squirrels chewing through your wires and everything. They don’t.
They just take the nut and go. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (37:06) Well, if he
started coming in with his 25 brothers and stuff, then it might be time to get
worried a little bit there, I suppose, wouldn’t it?
Andrea: Yeah no, he
doesn’t. There’s only one.
Andy N: (37:15) One’s one,
one’s alright. You can have him to yourself. Brilliant stuff. Do you have any
indications, to wrap up with, when book three’s going to be ready? I know
you’re writing it, you told me that before, didn’t you?
Andrea: Well, yeah, I’m
going to go to Spain again in the summer, but I’ve already got the inspiration
so, I’m hoping, well, I’ve got plans that it’s gonna be done by September, by
the end of September this year.
Andy N: (37:40) Brilliant,
fingers crossed.
Andrea: Actually, yeah,
when it’s out in like the end of September, we can do that walk around.
Andy N: (37:48) Yes,
please, yeah, love to. I’ll mention it to Amanda and notice and we’ll both come
down for that because I know what she’s like with country walks and
particularly if I tell her, like, we’re gonna see some squirrels, there’s
potentially squirrels, she’ll be straight down there. [LAUGHS] Yeah, we’ll sort
that out, I promise you. And please notice there will be a, I won’t say live,
but I will be recoding it on my phone, definitely for that one. Now, Andrea,
where can people get hold of your books first of all, people who are
interested. I recommend it.
Andrea: On Amazon.
Andy N: (38:21) Brilliant.
Andrea: Yeah, Amazon is the
best place, Amazon, yeah.
Andy N: (38:26) Great
stuff, okay and also as well then, obviously we’ve mentioned several pages
haven’t we, and social media. Do you want to remind people again what they
were?
Andrea: What my Instagram?
Instagram is @andrea.in.the.garden, Facebook is Andrea Hailwood. I’ve got a
YouTube channel but there’s not much on there at the minute, maybe that’ll
change. But Instagram. And then I’ve got another Instagram page which is just
for Friendly and that’s just called friendlythesquirrel.
Andy N: (39:03) Well worth
that, love both of them and that one in particular, it was brilliant it was, so
yeah, I recommend them both, definitely. So, great stuff. Thank you again,
Andrea, it’s been a pleasure today and I look forward to hopefully meeting you
in person later on this year, definitely, all being well, so definitely.
Andrea: I’m really glad you
like the books and thanks for reading them.
Andy N: (39:21) Yeah, they
were a pleasure.
Andrea: I’m glad you like
them.
Andy N: (39:23) They were a
pleasure. Absolutely. They were just something, I think it’s always worth
people noting in the book market nowadays to get hold of something that is just
original. It really was original. You had your own voice in the books and I
thought to myself, I have been wondering. No, it’s brilliant, absolutely, I
could well recommend them.
Andrea: Glad you like them.
Thank you.
Andy N: (39:42) Okay, guys
and girls, yes, that’s it for Spoken Label today. Thank you again to Andrea,
we’re going to chat a little bit further, but thanks again, Andrea. As Don
Callis over at AEW Wrestling says, “Stay safe and stay over” and if you listen
to this where the snow is coming down, keep warm as well. We’ll see you all
soon.
Spoken Label
Andy N: (40:02) Hey guys,
Andy N, Spoken Label. My friend, Andrea Hailwood. Now this, I must admit to
you, there’s a few reasons behind this. I didn’t think Andrea wanted to read
today and just after we wrapped up, it turns out she did, so. [LAUGHS] So,
yeah, slight change of plan, but listen, you’re going to hear it anyway. Now,
before we do that, Andrea’s just shown me, and I want people to see this, the
actual original big manuscript of book one. Now, if you’re on YouTube or
Instagram, you can see this. But, I’ll describe it, if you can see it on just
audio. ‘Cause it’s a big A5 book and there’s absolute like, tons of sticky
notes in it, and absolutely like crossings out. I think it’s brilliant. So, did
you get that printed up, then did you, that, originally, or?
Andrea: Yeah, I got it.
This was like, so, I put this in for a competition and I was so convinced I was
gonna win it. And I looked it, oh, it was so poor, there were spelling mistakes
in it. There was people’s names in it that weren’t even in the story—Oh, it was
just terrible, it was absolutely terrible. But this is even the next version to
that. So, the first version that I did, I didn’t like Bentley. I did not like
Bentely until I wrote the second book. And after I wrote the second book, I
thought, “Aw, Bentley needs a bit more recognition really. Little sweet
squirrel.”
Andy N: (41:28) Aw, squeak,
squeak.
Andrea: Yeah, she’s sweet.
Oh, I said, “she.”
Andy N: (41:34) Now, that
was just a slip of the tongue, right? [LAUGHS] That’s all I’m gonna say.
Right, Andrea. You’re going to read a page out of the book aren’t you, so
please do. Now, obviously please notice, this is from The Book of The
Ancestors, so.
Andrea: Yeah. This is the first book. This is
just after Friendly and Muddy Paw realise that Big Alpawso, the big bully
squirrel has stolen all the nuts out of the pantry, which they have a little
pantry where they keep all the stuff. So, Friendly is absolutely furious and he
goes after Big Al. I’m going to start reading now.
“That squirrel! I knew he would be trouble for us!”
shouts Friendly and starts shadow boxing. “I am going to find him and get our
nuts back!”
Friendly turns and hurls himself through the
branches of the tree. “Wait for me!” shouts Muddy Paw, before changing his
mind. Friendly doesn’t hear him anyway.
Friendly knows exactly where to go. Everyone knows
where Big Alpawso lives in the Douglas fir because he has the biggest drey in
the neighbourhood, and it is only big because it is full of items which he has
stolen from the other squirrels!
He races through the gardens and up the Douglas fir
tree until he reaches Big Alpawso’s drey.
“Hey!” he shouts. He knows Big Alpawso is there. “Hey!” he shouts again.
“Hey, Big Alpawso, I know you’re here! Come out! Where are all our nuts you’ve
just stolen from us?” He rushes at the drey and bangs his body into it. The
drey shakes on the Douglas fir branch and a couple of twigs fall from the
structure. Suddenly, the exit to the drey opens with a slam. Big Alpawso pokes
his head out. “Hey, squirrel! You’re damaging my property!”
“I’ll damage you!” shouts Friendly and bops Big Alpawso, bang on his
nose! Big Alpawso recoils in shock and touches his nose to check if it is
broken. Then, as he recovers and composes himself, he looks Friendly up and
down. Friendly is standing in a boxers pose, with both his fists clenched in
front of his face, ready to go. Big Alpawso is surprised but not intimidated.
“This squirrel is not a fighter!” he starts to think, but no sooner as the
thought leaves his head, Friendly has walloped him again!
In a fraction of a second, the two squirrels are
locked together and rolling around on the tree branch. Friendly grabs Big
Alpawso’s tail and pulls it hard! Big Alpawso screams and the squirrels
separate.
“You’ve pulled my tail fur out!” shouts Big Alpawso
and swishes his tail at Friendly, knocking his glasses off! The two squirrels
watch as Friendly’s gift from Santa Paws bounces down the trunk of the tree and
disappears into the foliage below.
“You!” Friendly runs at Big Alpawso. He shoves
Friendly hard, and Friendly loses his balance from the force of the shove. He
sways on the branch. He tries to steady himself, but it’s too late. Friendly
goes tumbling headfirst down, down to the ground below.
“Good riddance!” shouts Big Alpawso and goes back
into his drey to fix his wounds.
Andy N: (44:35) Brilliant,
brilliant, brilliant stuff indeed, oh yeah. Now, I’m so glad you did that, oh,
that’s tremendous that, brilliant stuff, Andrea. You felt then when you were
reading, I could feel the love in the book again, the full thing’s like that,
throughout and it’s, oh, it’s brilliant, that one, so.
Andrea: I know you’re not
supposed to laugh at your own jokes, but I do laugh at mine.
Andy N: (44:55) Oh, it’d
the English way of doing it, so definitely, I have no problem with that. The
last thing I want to ask you before we wrap up today was, had any of the
characters, apart from Bentley, changed from when you first envisioned them
really? Or did they all arrive reasonably well formed?
Andrea: Hmm. Snow Tail,
well, I introduce Snow Tail in the first book, this is Snow Tail is Muddy Paw’s
sister and they get separated because of a goshawk chases them and
unfortunately the parents aren’t around anymore, like the mum and dad. I wasn’t
no, I didn’t know where I was going with Snow Tail but I did think, because
Snow Tail brings in the Qi Gong. She’s like a Qi Gong master [LAUGHS] in the
second book. Yeah, do you know Qi Gong? It’s really good. I do it all the time,
it’s so good. But they don’t call it Qi Going, they call it Squi Gong. For
squirrels, Squirrel Gong. [LAUGHS]
Andy N: (45:54) Oh,
brilliant.
Andrea: Here’s me laughing
at my own jokes again.
Andy N: (45:59) That’s
what’s good about it, isn’t like, if you pay attention everybody, you’ll see
the little in jokes. We’ve given little hints away today, but there’s plenty
more there, that’s all I’m going to say with that, so. But brilliant stuff.
Thank you again, Andrea, I think we’ve covered everything now, unless you’ve
got something else I don’t know about?
Andrea: No, I think that’s
it now, I think [LAUGHS].
Andy N: (46:21) [LAUGHS]
Brilliant stuff. Thanks again, Andrea. Hang around anyways we’ll talk a bit
further, but yeah. Anyway, as it goes, yes, I want Andrea to go and get warm
now, because I still think it’s rather nippy out there, to be honest with you.
[LAUGHS] So, thank you again, Andrea. Now, okay guys and girls, I’m not even
going to repeat myself here so, see all next time. Stay warm.
**
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