Mouse Nuns and Hurricanes
It's destined to be an exciting week!
Thank you all for the kind reception for my first Substack email two weeks ago! There’s something about this platform that feels like old timey blogging—a medium that I loved.
I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to do with this space and two purposes emerged:
Sharing essays and reflections that are more personal or simply not a good fit for the Word on Fire blog where I send most of my writing.
Keeping you up to date with my book projects, writing published elsewhere on the internet, speaking events, and things I’ve read that I loved and want to share.
This one is going to be a newsy update (but I have a couple of essays in the works). And the biggest news around these parts is: MOUSE NUNS.
The first book of my Sister Seraphina Series featuring The Sisters of Our Lady Star of the Sea—an order of mouse nuns who run a school beneath the floorboards of G.K. Chesterton’s house—is now shipping out from the Pauline Books and Media warehouse for those who pre-ordered.
Look at the cute nun shipping out a book about cute mouse nuns! And pre-orders from Amazon will be sent out next week!
Here’s a bit more about the first book, The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese:
Beneath the floorboards of G. K. Chesterton’s home, a thrilling pursuit is about to unfold. Sister Seraphina was pleased that everything was ready for the school fair. But when the prize cheese goes missing, the Sisters of Our Lady Star of the Sea and their brave students will need all their detective wits to solve the mystery. With a little literary inspiration from their upstairs neighbors, can they band together to solve the case―and save Saint Wulfhilda’s School? This title is the first installment of the Sister Seraphina Mysteries series.
The Sister Seraphina Mysteries by Haley Stewart are read-a-loud stories about an abbey of mice nuns who run a school under the floorboards of G.K. Chesterton’s home. Each volume involves a child-friendly mystery that is investigated by Sister Seraphina. She is helped by other sisters from her abbey and two of her students, Marigold Mouseweather and Dominic Whiskerbright. Each book contains several chapters, illustrated throughout with the charming art of Betsy Wallin.
And this just in, the first Very Unbiased review, texted to me this morning by my dad:
Any questions about the series? I’m happy to answer in the comments. This series has been an absolute joy to create and then seeing it come to life with Betsy Wallin’s incredible illustrations has been magical. (Did I mention there are illustrations on EVERY page of this 60+ page storybook?) And yes, you can go ahead and pre-order Book 2 (The Curious Christmas Trail) in time for Christmas!
If you’ve already received your copy of The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese, I would LOVE it if you shared a photo with the book on social media and tagged me (I’m @haleycarrots on Twitter and Instagram)! What hashtag should we use? Probably #mousenuns?
Well, that about covers mouse nuns. (I do plan on sharing the behind-the-scenes story of how the book came to be in a future newsletter.) On to hurricanes!
We’re currently staring down Tropical Storm Ian. Hurricanes are a phenomenon that I grew up with so they don’t cause me as much anxiety as Texas tornados and polar vortexes. But this one seems determined to complicate my plan to speak at the Catholic Imagination Conference in Dallas this week.
I will be a bit devastated if I can’t go because there are at least two dozen people who will be there that I have been dying to meet! It really all depends on which way this storm turns. If it’s a direct hit on Tallahassee on Thursday, the day I’m supposed to fly out, then my chances of going are ahem….slim. So I’d love prayers for whatever this week calls for: hunkering down without power, evacuating four kids and a huge dog to my parents in TN, or traveling on a much anticipated to Dallas!
Speaking of travel, here’s what is (hopefully!) ahead for me this fall:
The Catholic Imagination Conference at the University of Dallas (September 30th and Oct 1st)
The Well-Read Mom Conference in the Twin Cities (October 14th-15th)
And the Together in Holiness Conference in Oklahoma City (October 29th)
If you are going to any of these events and want to purchase a signed copy of…
My first book, The Grace of Enough
My second book, Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life
The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese (affectionately known as Mouse Nuns Book 1)
…please let me know so I can be sure to order enough books! (You can comment which event and which book and that will help me gauge the order.)
I just got back from a very exciting and energizing Word on Fire publishing team trip to the Twin Cities (including a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral). So I will leave you with two of my recent contributions to the Word on Fire blog/journal:
I will also be at WRM and would love a copy of Pilfered Cheese - but will you be signing books if we bring our own copies?
I will be at the Well Read Mom Conference. I would like a signed copy of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life. Thank you:)