Dame Julie Andrews teams up with daughter for new picture book

The Enchanted Symphony was inspired by an unusual performance in Barcelona.

This cover image (Abrams via AP)

By AP Reporters

February 06 2023 02:32 PM

An unusual musical performance in Spain has been credited with inspiring the latest picture book collaboration between Dame Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.

Dame Julie and Walton Hamilton said they thought of their forthcoming book, The Enchanted Symphony, during the first year of the pandemic.

The Enchanted Symphony is a “hopeful fairy tale”, according to Abrams Children’s Books.

It is set in a village “beset by a mysterious fog”, but revived by a “boy’s simple melody”.

Dame Julie and Walton Hamilton said in a statement: “While the fog in our book evokes our pandemic experience, it also symbolises something larger: the creeping and countless distractions that prevent us from appreciating what truly matters most in life.

“For us, it’s family, community, nature, and the arts that provide true beauty and meaning.”

Dame Julie and her daughter have worked together on numerous other books, including the The Very Fairy Princess series and The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi, based on the famous song from The Sound of Music.

They also plan a follow-up to The Enchanted Symphony.

Abrams said that The Enchanted Symphony will be published on September 12.