‘Mr B, a wiry little man of fifty with white hair, was sitting in the back of a big white Land Rover when he saw the donkey. It was early evening and the dense rush-hour traffic in Peshawar was moving at a snail’s pace—which was just as well, for Mr B suddenly opened the door, leaped down onto the road and, without a word, sprinted away between the carts and lorries, the buses and the motorcycles…’
Brian Sewell strays from the art world to tell the enchanting story of a man and his pet donkey, Pavlova, as they make their way together from Peshawar to London in the company of monks, book collectors, rugmakers and smugglers. Beautifully illustrated by the celebrated cartoonist Sally Ann Lasson, The White Umbrella is an allegorical tale about taking personal responsibility for our environment and the importance of both compassion and empathy. It is the perfect book for children and adults alike—a classic in the making to keep and to cherish.
Author info
Britain's most famous and controversial art critic' (Guardian), Brian Sewell is also the best-selling author of two volumes of autobiography - Outsider and Outsider II. An Orwell Prize-winning journalist and renowned animal lover, his beloved dogs star in his latest memoir, Sleeping with Dogs. The White Umbrella is his first work of fiction. Sally Ann Lasson started work as a cartoonist at the Independent in 1986 and her strip 'As If' appeared daily there from 1999 to 2011. She has written extensively for all the major newspapers and her cartoon books have been translated into several languages.
