NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP
 

Mr Tumnal

Everyone has an idea of their ideal family. Not everyone’s become real

Read more  
T E Shepherd Official Author Photo - Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike BY+SA
About me

Derbyshire born. Suffolk bred. Lives in the shires.

T E Shepherd is an author/illustrator. He writes magic realism set in our, or closely-related, worlds. His debut novel, The End Of All Worlds, was released in 2012. His second novel, and the first in the Imaginary Friends trilogy, Mr Tumnal, was published in 2014. The second in the series, The Imaginary Wife, was published in 2018, and he's currently working on the final instalment, Forgotten Friends. He is also a landscape artist, and is currently working on a project with Erica Smith aka. the Bookshop Blogger to illustrate his way round the country to produce The Booklover's Guide to Bookshops. You can find out about upcoming releases by following on Twitter, liking on Facebook, or by joining the mailing list.

Read more
  The Imaginary Wife

The Imaginary Wife

How would you feel if you discovered you were the imaginary creation of your best friend?

Read more  
instagram

@vnemma and I honeymooned on this island 10 years ago. I agree with this post completely… • • • • • #Repost @jesskatbee • • • • • If Narnia met a Greek island, that might be @eileanshona in the summer. I’m not even sure where we went was real. It was a 50 min walk to any electricity or internet, so we didn’t bother. Our cottage was in a valley, looking out towards Eigg and Rhum, lit by gaslight and heated by a wood burner. We picked mussels from the rocks at low tide and cooked them for next morning’s breakfast. We watched a stag and a hind move past the valley at dusk, his antlers like branches come to life among the ferns. Saw curious seals and their little sausage pups resting on the rocks as we navigated the loch by kayak, who then followed us in the water as we tried to avoid being blown slowly into the Atlantic Ocean. We read about 85 times more books than usual, and put our brains and souls in a form of deep refreshment that actually came as a disconcerting shock to me. We saw sea eagles and pine martens and mainly just listened to the water. I think it’s the first time I’ve been disconnected from my fragmented social media self for years, and it was a slow process of changing thought patterns and realising how I used to be, in the 90s, as a kid, as a teen. I miss that sense of being fully present. It’s so rich. It’s so calm. And yet, I wouldn’t have found this island if it wasn’t for social media. So. Heading back home now, with midge-ravaged ankles, but I will never forget the golden light of solstice, when there was still sun on the horizon past midnight, a book could be read in a day, and the day’s most pressing task was making a fire and hoping your chocolate biscuit ration lasted.

Sunday 30 June 2019

@vnemma and I honeymooned on this island 10 years ago. I agree with this post completely… • • • • • #Repost @jesskatbee • • • • • If Narnia met a Greek island, that might be @eileanshona in the…

Continue reading
instagram

“Since the reduction of shipping trade between England and the Far East, and the flooded plantations, the traditional British beverage had become increasingly hard to come by. Chloë was used to nettle brews; on her arrival at college she had found a caddy of tea made from oak leaves.” #tea

Monday 24 June 2019

“Since the reduction of shipping trade between England and the Far East, and the flooded plantations, the traditional British beverage had become increasingly hard to come by. Chloë was used to nettle brews; on her arrival at college she had…

Continue reading
instagram

Today I have turned one old pallet into what might look like the world’s most rustic coffee table but is in fact a tunnel to link up chicken coop 1 with chicken coop 2. #chickens???????????? #oldpalletsandsomenails #supercoop #chickenpalace

Sunday 23 June 2019

Today I have turned one old pallet into what might look like the world’s most rustic coffee table but is in fact a tunnel to link up chicken coop 1 with chicken coop 2. #chickens???????????? #oldpalletsandsomenails #supercoop #chickenpalace

Continue reading

Popular posts

instagram

In the bleak midwinter... #oldways #chilterns #midwinter

Saturday 23 December 2017
In the bleak midwinter… #oldways #chilterns #midwinter
instagram

Plotting the conclusion to my #ImaginaryFriends series... #ForgottenFriends #MrTumnal #MrTumnal3 #amplotting #amwriting

Thursday 27 September 2018
journal

The words, they just come and come...

Thursday 1 September 2005
journal

Idea via siren_songs

Thursday 13 May 2004
instagram

Common orchid

Saturday 29 April 2017
Common orchid
journal

The national blog

Tuesday 17 October 2006