The Things Buried Beneath Morrowick
An illustrated gothic fantasy by April Martin
The umbrellas kept out the rain, certainly. They also had a peculiar way of keeping other things in.
An old village. A strange custom. A story not quite buried.
There was once a woman in Morrowick who buried her daughter’s tears beneath an apple tree.
She did this out of kindness, or so she maintained. The child had wept for three days following the death of her father, and the woman, having exhausted the usual remedies of warm milk, prayer, and threats of a sound beating, collected the tears in a little blue bottle and buried them among the roots.
The villagers considered this an unfortunate coincidence. They were a sensible people, and sensible people understood that grief, like mildew, was best dealt with before it spread.
In time, Morrowick became famous for its umbrellas.
Every child received one upon turning nine. Some were stitched with stars, others with birds or little brass moons. They were beautiful, costly things, and the children were expected to be grateful.
The umbrellas kept out the rain, certainly. They also had a peculiar way of keeping other things in.
There were six girls who suspected this, although none could have explained precisely what troubled her. They had each been told, in one fashion or another, that something inside them required mending.
Perhaps it did.
But one ought to be careful when deciding what constitutes a broken thing. A clock that refuses to strike midnight may be faulty. Or it may know something about midnight that the clockmaker does not.
On the seventeenth night of October, a lantern appeared outside a house that had been demolished seventy-three years earlier.
By morning, the house had returned. By evening, so had its occupants.
And somewhere beneath the oldest apple tree in Morrowick, something began to weep.
The Umbrella Girls
Six girls have noticed things the adults would prefer to forget. These are the original illustrations that gave their world its shape. Open a field note to learn a little more.
Hanging by the Moon
Pippa Finch
Open her field note
Pippa collects broken objects and imagines impossible inventions. Her curiosity leads her toward an alley that does not always exist.
Keys to Nowhere
Iris Bell
Open her field note
Among the books and maps of her family's shop, Iris discovers a street that the village has forgotten.
The Clockwork Nest
Tilda Wren
Open her field note
Tilda understands gears and counts the village lanterns. One evening, her careful counting reveals something that should not be there.
The Day the Sky Turned Gold
Ada Briar
Open her field note
Ada knows the greenhouse birds. She takes notice when the crows begin avoiding the clock tower.
The Fox Knows
Maisie Thorne
Open her field note
Maisie's fox, Bramble, keeps returning to a place where the village insists there is nothing to see.
Where the Water Listens
Willa Marsh
Open her field note
In the Listening Canal, Willa sees the reflection of a house that is not standing on the bank.
A world drawn in ink and made of questions.
The Umbrella Girls: The Things Buried Beneath Morrowick is an illustrated gothic fantasy written and illustrated by April Martin of Purple Inkwell Studios.
Its girls have been given beautiful umbrellas, and the village has given them reasons to be grateful. Beneath the ordinary customs lie questions about grief, conformity, and who gets to decide what ought to be mended.