In 1977, the year I turned 30, three life-changing things happened. I got married. I got a kitty. And I painted my first picture. All of it went into the diaries I've been keeping since I was in my 20s, because, most of the time, my life has felt like a miracle and I didn't want to forget any of it. And that's what THE FAIRY TALE GIRL is about. It's an illustrated memoir, watercolored and hand-lettered, taken from my diaries and photo albums; a story of growing up in the lovely 1950s as the oldest of eight children, coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s and discovering art, cooking, feminism, rock and roll, and love. When my heart was broken into a thousand pieces, and the grief was so terrible I was inspired to run away from home (in the naive hope of escaping the pain), I never gave up believing in and searching for my childhood dreams of happily ever after. If you like time travel, you've come to the right place. With Love, Susan Branch