A calm bedtime story for grown-ups, about an old turtle making a picture on a rock from what the beach has given him. Horatio knows what it is before it is done. Prince Freddie spends the afternoon fetching the exact piece of sea glass, the driftwood of the right weight, the pale spiral shell that goes right of centre. When it is finished he still cannot tell what it is from where he is standing, and has the feeling that from above it would be perfectly clear. A slow, patient story about work that does not need you to see the result.

Prince Freddie is a small dog in a flat gold crown who lives in a sleepy village on the Spanish coast, where the days are warm, the sea is always close, and nothing is ever in a hurry. These are unhurried sleep stories for grown-ups, written to quiet a busy mind and soften the end of the day. You are not meant  ...