Hawick hair salon owner publishes her first children's book with a little help from her friends

When Emma Carmichael was forced to close Envy Hair in Oliver Place during lockdowns she utilised the time on her hands by creating Meggy and Her Fluffy Friends, a children’s story in verse.

The mother of three daughters, Allie, 13, Tess, 11, and Lori, seven, used the youngest of her brood for inspiration.

Emma, who wrote on the notes app on her mobile phone, said: “I have always written poems and stories, it’s been a lifetime thing for me but it really developed during lockdown because I had to close my salon so I was off through the lockdown at home with my three girls and inspiration struck.

"I don’t even know where the name Meggy came from, it just all sort of happened and my youngest daughter was kind of my little sounding board and I thought that I needed to turn it into a book but I didn’t know where to start.”

Emma, 40, called on her friend and local artist Amanda Hamilton, of Amanda Hamilton Creations, to come up with illustrations for the characters and has utilised local printers Richardsons.

She added: “The book has the message that the small things in life are a big deal to a little girl. This book is about being scared of the dark and how teddies show Meggy that the dark isn’t scary after all. I’ve already written two more stories and, depending on the demand, I’ll look towards publishing a second book for Christmas.”

The book will be available direct from Emma via her EJC Books Facebook page in a couple of weeks and she hopes some shops locally will also stock it.