Nine Jewel Boxes

 

Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool in 1939. He grew up in much the same time and place as the Beatles. In fact, Brian’s high school English teacher also taught Paul and George. Brian credits his father with sharing a love of literature. He had fond memories of his father reading aloud from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Kenneth Grahame. Brian became a milkman. The Royal School for the Blind happened to be along his milk route. One day when Brian was in his late forties, he was invited inside the school for a spot of tea. He decided to read to the blind children in his spare time. As he read, he became more and more dissatisfied with the choice of books available, and vowed to write what he called a “proper story.” Redwall was published in 1986, and became the first installment of a 21-volume fantasy series.