Character Showcase - Coquin

In SLOWLY RISING (available next Wednesday, 29th August) Coquin is the name of a naughty, restless spirit creature who lives inside a silver chocolate pot. She constantly pesters her young mistress (and, as Coquin sees it, her gaoler) to let her free. In the meantime she spins the stirrer inside the pot, chatters incessantly to annoy her mistress and sings songs. Over and over again.

How did Coquin get inside the pot and who, or what, exactly is she?

Well, you'll have to read the book to find out.

Suffice to say, she's older than she thinks she is, naughtier than anybody knows, capable of greater destruction than she can imagine, and there is only one person who can set her free from her pot. But it's not her little mistress who, for all her promises, is firmly resolved never to let Coquin out again.

Look what happened last time.

No, it is a certain man who will stumble upon Coquin in her chocolate pot and let her out, without even knowing what he's done.

In the words of Coquin's mistress, "Men only ever made the world untidy, leaving women to clean up the mess."

I have to say, if I were ever trapped in a pot, I would rather it be one in which chocolate is made than anything else.

Look for SLOWLY RISING next week, and, if you haven't already, grab your copy of the prequel SLOWLY FELL, which is currently on sale at all the best online book stores!

JF


Images shown are both 18th century paintings by Jean-Etienne Liotard. The first is called "The Chocolate Girl" and the second "A Lady  Pouring Chocolate". I love the way you can almost touch the material in both pictures, particularly the first).