Meet local author Cathy Farr and Irish wolfhound Finn at Saturday book launch (From Penarth Times)

Meet local author Cathy Farr and Irish wolfhound Finn at Saturday book launch

4:20pm Friday 18th May 2012 in News

FINN, the giant Irish Wolfhound, shows this week that he’s not just a one-trick-wonder – as local author Cathy Farr launches her new book, Moon Crossing, once again inspired by the huge hound!

The launch takes place at 11am this Saturday (May 19) at All Saints Church Hall in Penarth. Everyone is welcome and Finn will be there, too.

Cathy finished writing Moon Crossing back in December and while waiting for it to come out in print, she and Finn have been spending their time visiting schools across South Wales and the South West of England.

"It’s been quite an adventure," said Cathy.

"We’ve been to so many schools – we even opened a library in Bristol!

"Finn is fantastic. The children love him and he’s so well behaved. He falls asleep, leaving me to tell the children about my books and about how he provided the inspiration.

"I visit Years 4 through to 8 and it’s great to see the children so interested in writing, as well as reading. It’s proved so successful that a lot of schools are asking me back to do creative writing workshops!"

Moon Crossing is Cathy’s second novel. Following on from the extremely popular Moon Chase, it is the next in the Fellhounds of Thesk stories and takes readers back into the medieval land with two moons that is inhabited by giant Fellhounds, Wraithe wolves and eagards.

In this tale, Tally has been kidnapped by Lord Rexmoore and teenager Wil Calloway returns to Saran to help in her rescue. But the welcome he receives isn’t quite what he expected, and it quickly becomes apparent that his promise to bring Tally back before the twin moons cross looks doomed to failure, even before it begins!

"I thought Moon Crossing was a tremendously satisfying follow-up to Moon Chase, in which we met Wil Calloway and the Fellhounds for the first time," said TheBookBag reviewer Jill Murphy.

"The beautiful and sometimes forbidding landscape of Thesk rises vividly from the pages and you get a real sense of Farr's imagined world.

"It's a pacy and exciting fantasy quest with energy and positivity embedded in every page, engaging characters, and those gorgeous Fellhounds. What more could you want?"

Cathy will spend most of the summer promoting Moon Crossing in schools and bookshops around the Principality and the south of England, but has chosen her home town of Penarth to launch the book to mark the influence of the area on her writing.

On Saturday Cathy will be signing all copies of Moon Crossing sold on the day.