Anna Walter
Anna Walton is an illustrator and artist, educated at Schola in Horse House. She does magazine illustrations to pay her bills, with theatrical design - both sets and costumes - on the side.
A Dog's Chance is the tale of how she met and fell in love with Una Doran. They appear (unnamed) in Goblin Fruit, and also attend the masked ball in On The Bias. They're referenced briefly in Mistress of Birds.
Anna and Una are both deeply enmeshed - before and after their meeting - with the more bohemian sorts, both magical and non-magical, in London's arts community. They also are home to a small often-changing horde of pets who need a home, always including their Irish wolfhound, Madin.
Goblin Fruit (unnamed appearance)
On The Bias (unnamed appearance)
Mistress of Birds (mentioned)
Anna and Una also appear, unnamed, at two costumed gatherings. At a masked ball requiring paired costumes in Goblin Fruit, Lizzie spots the two of them. A year later, Benton is identifying various people for Cassie in On The Bias
Appears In
A Dog's Chance (main)Goblin Fruit (unnamed appearance)
On The Bias (unnamed appearance)
Mistress of Birds (mentioned)
A Dog's Chance
A Dog's Chance is a short story about how Anna and Una met and fell in love (with the help of a large Irish wolfhound named Madin).
Anna and Una also appear, unnamed, at two costumed gatherings. At a masked ball requiring paired costumes in Goblin Fruit, Lizzie spots the two of them. A year later, Benton is identifying various people for Cassie in On The Bias
excerpt from Goblin Fruit
Lizzie followed his chin, the line of his gaze, down to a clearing by the lakefront, well-lit, to where two women were dancing. One was plump, done up layers of black and white feathers that shifted and shook. Her partner was the sleekest femme fatale of a flapper she’d seen in months in a body-hugging scale-covered dress that shimmered turquoise, coral, and gold in the torchlight. “Oh, my, that’s a thing.”
They were gorgeous, not just the costumes, but how they were with each other. There was a certainty and flirtation that came through even from a distance. Her escort smiled “Ah, I suspect they’d be a pleasure to talk to. Let’s see if we can work around to it, shall we?”
...
In time, the spins and turns and movements of the dance lead into a pause, and the band was taking a break, apparently. Her Arlecchino had steered them near the vulture and snake, and gestured for a waiter with a tray of drinks, handing one to her, and then cheerfully, “Your tastes, ladies?”
The other two eyed them, and Lizzie offered a, “We couldn’t help admiring your costumes. So well designed. Egyptian, yes? I’m afraid I don’t know the symbology properly?”
The two exchanged a glance, and it was the one in feathers who languidly stretched out a plump arm and extracted a glass from the table. She replied slowly, her voice a rolling alto, some accent Lizzie couldn’t quite place, “The joined kingdoms.”
They passed a little time in conversation, and they warmed, Lizzie thought, as she asked a few questions about the costume design, details. Her escort was well-mannered, not staring at exposed skin, but not ignoring it either. Appreciating it, that was what he was doing. It was meant to be appreciated.
The vulture-lady stood after a few more minutes and murmured, “I should see to that feather, darling,” to her partner, and Lizzie stood. “I have a hem I need to mend - and I’ve got skill with a needle. May I give you a hand?”
excerpt from On The Bias
"And that, over there, those two women, his lordship mentioned he’d met them at a party when he and Miss Penhallow first met. They were wearing quite extraordinary costumes then, he said, symbolically echoing a serpent and ... something else, I forget what.” He was distracted. “I’m not sure who they’re meant to be, but decidedly together.”
The two women were both wearing flowing Greek tunics, with a gauzy shawl fluttering behind one. Sappho, perhaps, but that seemed perhaps a little too obvious. Cassie laughed, near his ear. “Oh, yes. They’re most certainly a couple. I like that about his lordship, that it doesn’t bother him.”
(Click on the title above to learn more about Anna's role in that book.)
