It’s been months. Life was hectic and Birdie and Sy wouldn’t let me rest. But finally it’s complete, the final instalment in The Shadows trilogy. If you missed the first two parts you can find them here.
But in the meantime…

‘Birdie and Sy’. Two lovers from similar London backgrounds (Caribbean immigrant grandparents). But Birdie lives outside of society, under a willow tree at the side of a river. And Sy is a self-made business man in a comfortable flat, with no wish to return to the inner-city streets he ran from. Yet, that is where he finds Birdie and that is where he finds his true self.

And amidst it all, the Drybone man is lurking in the tower blocks, stealing young men’s souls, stealing their bones and ending their lives.

Narrative poem or lyrical prose? It’s got a rhyme scheme and a plot line, with hints of Mama Glo, fairiemaids, and Papa Bwa. But the Drybone man is a folklore character all his own, born from the dust and hardship of life in London, where young men are carelessly broken, wasted and lost.

I hope you enjoy my folktale.