The Stories That Built Our Walls

Every weekend, as I open the doors of the Faebles Carriage and welcome visitors inside, I’m reminded just how humbling it is to share this little dream of mine with others.

I hear a lot of lovely things from guests — compliments about the ceiling tiles, the twinkling lights, the cozy corners filled with books and tea. But without fail, every single week, someone comments on the book page wall. And honestly? That wall means more to me than anyone probably realizes.

There are three of us girls — me and my two sisters — and our love of stories came from our dad (and apparently from his mother before him). When Dad passed away, I inherited his books. As I sorted through them, I started to notice something sweetly familiar: he and I had so many of the same titles. I found myself remembering him introducing me to Dean Koontz. My first Koontz book was Cold Fire, and from that moment, I was hooked. I’ve collected mountains of Koontz novels since — but as I went through Dad’s shelves, I realized we’d been unknowingly reading side by side all along.

When I first dreamed up Faebles, I knew I wanted a book page feature wall — something that visually captured the heart of storytelling. But I didn’t know which books I could bring myself to tear apart. It felt wrong to destroy a story.

Then one day, I thought of Dad’s books. They were just sitting in boxes and gathering dust — pieces of his love for stories, untouched. And I realized, what better way to honor him than to give those pages a second life? To make them part of something that continues to share his passion for books with others.

So the wall began.

But I didn’t stop there. My sisters had to be part of it too. We live far apart now — one in Georgia with her husband and three kids, teaching high school and juggling sports schedules, and the youngest all the way across the ocean in Scotland. We talk every day, thanks to technology, and we even have our own little Sisters Summer Book Club. (Yes, you can be jealous.)

So I chose pages that connected all three of us:

📖 Dean Koontz – Light of the Moon, from Dad’s collection.

📖 Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, one of our first book club reads.

📖 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, my Scottish sister’s all-time favorite.

Now, each time I step into the carriage, I’m surrounded by those pages — the ones held and read by the people who made me who I am. And in that way, they’re still with me every weekend as Faebles continues its journey.

Because sometimes, stories aren’t just told on paper. Sometimes, they’re built into the walls around us.