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Novel for Young Adults: ‘The Trilogy of Two’ by Juman Malouf

Juman Malouf is an accomplished designer and costumer who shifted her career aspirations and decided to become an author and illustrator of books for children.  She was born in Beirut, Lebanon; grew up in Saudi Arabia and London; attended the prestigious Brown University (USA); and now divides her time residing in Paris, the “city of love” and New York, the “city that never sleeps”.

In reading an article about this talented lady in the New York Times, I learned a new word. She is described as a “peripatetic” outsider. (???) This word has two meanings.  Not quite sure if one or both definitions apply to her.

DEF1: moving about from place to place.

DEF2: an Aristotelian, i.e. a follower of Aristotle (from Aristotle’shabit of conversing with students while they walked in the Lyceum, the garden in Athens, Greece where he taught).

The article about Ms. Malouf was intriguing to me because it seems we have a few things in common and one main difference.

~ Ms. Malouf was the character Agnes in “Fantastic Mr. Fox”.

I love Fantastic Mr. Fox”.

~ Ms. Malouf likes vintage stuff: fashion, art, etc.

I love vintage stuff.  See my collection on Pinterest: Everything Vintage.

~ We both aspired to write books for children and young adults.

However, the main difference between Ms. Malouf and me is that she succeeded in getting her children’s book published.  I did not. Life got in the way and my drafts of stories written for children were put on a shelf.  Maybe one day. After all, there’s always tomorrow.

The Trilogy of Two is a story about twin orphans growing up in a traveling circus.  Sonja and Charlotte are identical twins, musical prodigies with extraordinary powers.  They are the “Daughters of the Key”.

This book was included in TIME Magazine’s “Top 10 Children’s Book of 2015”.

Article Reference:

Hartman, Eviana. “Quality | Profile in Style | Juman Malouf.” T: New York Times Style Magazine 25Oct. 2015: 92. Print.

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