Noonvale: A Tale of Redwall

Taryn the mousemaid has a thirst for adventure - and an undisguised adoration for the aging hero of Redwall Abbey, Martin the Warrior. She wants to know everything about him; but the Warrior has secrets that not even his old friend Gonff can pry out of him. But when mysterious dreams reveal a dangerous new threat in the far north, things must be spoken of that have too long remained silent. Taryn and her friends follow the aging Warrior as he sets out on one final quest: to return to Noonvale and face the loss that has tormented him for so many seasons.

Set after the events of Legend of Luke. Italicized text is largely taken from Martin the Warrior.

[This piece is my way of paying tribute to the man who I will always say taught me how to write - to paint pictures with my words, as he always told us Readers Club members to do. Brian Jacques molded my childhood. Mossflower is my hiding place. Before there was Middle Earth (for me), before I found Narnia, before my train ride to Hogwarts... there was Redwall. And for that, I will be eternally grateful to that old man across the ocean who, with every book I opened, sat me on his knee like a grandfather and fed me sweet visions the like of which I will never read again. To you, Brian. With love.

This story is also for my real grandfather, who moved on to be with Christ in January of 2015. His favorite old Appalachian song to sing to me was "Froggy Went A-Courtin'," which is sort of the rural grandchild of the old English ballad, "The Moste Strange Weddingge of Frogge and Mouse." It is this old ballad which I used as the basis for the song in the first chapter. I can still hear my grandfather's voice singing the Appalachian version to me on his porch.

This story is about learning how to say goodbye. And it is so much easier for my characters to do that than it is for me.]