Finding Our Feet
Dear Reader,
About a year and a half has passed since I wrote to you about returning to work after becoming a new parent, and the wild messy growth that entailed. Where I used to watch a baby nap through the monitor as I worked, I now have a toddler who plays next to me, sometimes flipping through books in emulation of what I’m doing!
It shouldn’t be a surprise that an important part of our weekly routine has been going to the library. Yesterday we visited the children’s section at the Central Public Library. The first time we went there, shortly after its refresh in January, my son had just begun to crawl, and slowly inched his way around. Yesterday, he excitedly ran in and helped himself to a cushion, toting it around the shelves while sieving out books with trains on their covers.
As the year has passed, not just my son, but the Ethos team too, have been finding our feet. Taking tentative steps at first as 2024 began, having just bid a sad farewell to beloved colleagues, then finding our stride—feeling out the limits of what we could do as a smaller team, but also the possibilities.
Thank you, as our reader, for also staying with our Attunement newsletter. While no longer a weekly missive, we hope that when it does arrive (perhaps now more like an unexpected letter from a dear friend), the words still prove to be a balm. In the year to come, we aim to keep sending these personal messages, and in particular, to give more regular peeks into our little corner of publishing.
Given how I opened by reflecting on my son’s growth, perhaps it’s fitting that I end with a mention of one of our children’s titles. While such books are typically not part of our publishing line-up, this year we had a special return of a character, tiger Gus, in his eponymously titled Augustus Romulus, a follow-up to Afternoon Tea at Raffles Hotel. In Afternoon Tea, he takes the bus to Raffles, while in Augustus, he expands his scope to find out how to escape the story he’s in. It’s a mischievous, winking look at how stories and characters can help us grow our perspectives—and find joy along the journey of discovery. A sentiment that can stay with us way beyond childhood.
Warmly,
Cassandra
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