Caves

'Around the cave, the paintings of men with stick legs and antelope heads seemed strange. They swayed and moved to the music. The rock was starting to gleam. Everything was turning transparent.  Layer upon layer of people and animals were coming up through the rock towards us.  Floating right out into the circle of candlelight. Surrounding us.  Dancing and chanting and circling to the music.'

Most writers draw inspiration from something known as a child. I remember spending time under a huge dressing table with a cloth draped across the front to make it darker. Like so many hiding places of childhood, it was a place where I could shrink and at the same time take on the immensity and frightening aspects of the world – things too huge, scary and wild to contemplate. In the small space, I had the chance to enlarge the rest of my world, safely. 

The first time I went into the cave described in my book, Fish Notes and Star Songs, I was transported back into this dark child space and a sense of a huge ‘other’ world.  An idea sparked when I learnt that human remains had been uncovered deep inside the cave. The concept of a cave being ‘home’ to someone made me think about ‘shelters’ and ‘homes’ and the idea that a home is not only for protection, but a place where one can escape to - a place where identity can safely change.  And from this my story grew.

Fish Notes and Star Songs is full of shelters of varying kinds.  Fish and her father build a refuge for themselves out of the cabin that the old Sea Captain has made from bits and pieces of driftwood. They build a stone tower lined with shells and bits of mirror stuck on the walls, which allows them to see the world reflected differently.  It’s a place where Fish’s imagination has free rein but where she also feels sheltered and safe.

The other children in the story, all have their refuges which protect them from the world - the cave deep inside Whale Rock, the shelter in the sand dunes, the shack in the forest, the dark shaded space under the branches of the big Milkwood tree.  Even the new and different names the children give themselves, or others give them, are refuges which help them hide their true identity. Like snails they can withdraw into their protective shells.

In a small confined space, experiences become condensed and enriched.  At the same time a small space allows us immobility.  We don’t have to do anything.  We can just be. Fish Notes and Star Songs is the story of Fish and her friends who manage to move beyond the protection of the shelter and face the world.

  Cave Facts and extra ideas

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