A Voice in the Storm

 
　　老鼠最近看起來不太對勁，好朋友渡鴉很擔心，感覺老鼠的心思常常飄到遠方，到某個遙遠而悲傷的地方。渡鴉關心地問老鼠她怎麼了，老鼠不知如何說出口，只好回答自己沒事，只說需要出去走走。
 
　　暴風雨來了，老鼠卻獨自在風暴中奔跑，迷失又孤獨，風雨交加下，老鼠害怕地縮成一團。在她最難受的時候，她遇見了一隻熊，她們一起尋找庇護所，狂風暴雨中，大熊鼓勵小老鼠釋放自己內心的聲音……
 
　　延續The Circles in the Sky的風格，德國插畫家Karl James Mountford以細緻而詩意的美麗畫面，望向生命中的低谷時刻。文字與圖像合鳴呈現豐富層次，更巧妙運用色彩和視覺意象，將內心壓抑的悲傷對應外在強烈的暴風雨。故事中角色智慧的話語，如同在最需要的時刻的一個溫暖擁抱，注入讓人心安的穩定力量，陪伴讀者找尋情緒出口。

　　Rat's friend Jackdaw is worried – Rat hasn't been herself lately. It seems like she is somewhere else ... somewhere sad. Rat wishes she could tell Jackdaw what's been troubling her, but she doesn't have the words.

　　So, instead, she runs out by herself just as a storm starts rolling in. Lost, alone and frightened in the belly of the storm, at her lowest moment Rat meets an unexpected friend who teaches her to listen to the storm – screaming its loneliness and singing its sadness – and helps her to find her own voice.

　　A moving, cathartic and sensitive exploration of depression, from the creator of Circles in the Sky.

Karl James Mountford has created cover artwork and illustrations for many successful fiction titles such as The Uncommoners by Jennifer Bell, Taylor and Rose Secret Agents by Katherine Woodfine and The Peculiars by Kieran Larwood. He has also worked on picture books including Maurice the Unbeastly by Amy Dixon and The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth by Ellie Hattie. Karl lives in Wales. You can find him on Instagram as @karljamesmountford and on Twitter as @karlj_mountford.