The Happy Prince

Sally Castle’s beautifully hand-lettered and illustrated edition of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince sets the story among Reading’s parks, squares, rooflines and churches – the town that’s shaped her and her artwork and where Oscar spent an unhappy period in gaol. This enchanting combination of fairy story with concrete urban reality, a tale of sacrificial love written with a flourish and swirl, turns a simple book into a gem as precious as the large red ruby that glowed on the Prince’s sword-hilt. With an introduction by Michael Seeney, author and collector of Wilde’s work.