The Lodge
As part of my work on the last part of The Starless Square, Book Three of the Storyteller’s Quest, I worked with my daughter Zoé, who is an architect, on the design of a key set of buildings for the continuation of the story. Above is one of Zoé’s early drawings of the complex. Working with an architect and pushing around exciting new ideas about the space produced lots of promising avenues for the story.
An extract from The Starless Square
The Lodge was situated in a large park between the coast road and the sea, the main entrance being not far from the tiny railway halt for the university. The only other building in the area was a small hotel situated about half a mile down the road. Judging from the little she could see by the lights dotted here and there close to the ground, the building was in two parts: the original mansion and a more modern building, the two linked by a long glass walkway flanked by offices on the far side, overlooking the sea. The manager had not used the main drive to enter the property. Instead, he had opened a gate onto a narrow lane that led through rolling hills to a small car park concealed in a dip in the ground surrounded by trees a short distance from the front of the older building. The mansion was impressive. She could imagine what life must have been like there when such buildings were in their heyday: the opulent Avan society being received by the master and mistress of the Lodge. Built of the same green stone used for many of the buildings in Avan, it had four floors including the ground floor and there were probably rooms under the rafters as well. The building appeared quite old, but the window frames looked new, the place must have been renovated recently. She noted that the renovation had been tastefully done, avoiding modifications to the original spirit and outward form of the building. Now it was shroud in darkness and seemed deserted.