Satin

Satin

Satin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Satin

Sophie Masson

Lorena Carrington

MidnightSun, 2023

32pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9781922858016

Every morning early, when no-one’s about, Satin slips out of the forest and walks along the sleepy sunrise streets, looking for blue…

He’s collected all kinds of blues, from all kinds of places. He’s making something beautiful, with all those blues. But something’s missing, and he doesn’t know what it is. And then, one day, he comes to a street he’s never been in before. And what he finds there will change his lonely life forever.

This is a stunning story, superbly illustrated, that takes some thought to work through all the imagery…

Is Satin searching for blue because he, himself, is blue in mood, and that’s what attracts him right now?

Is he searching for the elusive piece to finish his creation, both physically and emotionally? Does he even know what it is that he is searching for?

What is the significance of the satin bowerbird in the illustrations? Is Satin searching for blue things in order to find a mate, just as the bowerbird does? 

Why does Satin prefer the cover of darkness to do his searching?

Described by the publisher as a “beautiful, haunting fable”, this is a sophisticated read for older, independent readers, each of whom will take something different from the story as they unpeel the layers of symbolism to find themes of aloneness and loneliness, longing and belonging, and the human need to connect with others yet remaining individual.  Just as Satin’s masterpiece is made up of many pieces of found things, continually growing and evolving, so are we as people, made up of the connections we have, the contacts we make, the things we value, chance discoveries and things sought, a willingness, perhaps even courage to embrace change and difference,  so that we become shape into a whole. A whole that is enough and one which fills a piece in another’s life.

Echoing Satin’s journey from the sombre tones of being a solitary soul to one who is more complete, are the illustrations, primarily blue, but which contrast dark and light in colour as in mood.  As Satin emerges from the dark forest of his daytime home to wander the town bathed in bright moonlight, so is the hint that this is where he knows he will find that missing piece of himself … this is the perfect marriage of text and graphics, just as it was in its original creation.

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