About “All Souls’ Day”

In the Armenian cathedral in Lwów, a fresco by Jan Henryk de Rosen depicts the funeral procession of St Odilo of Cluny. His body, carried by the Past (hooded), the Present (looking at us) and the Future (eyes shut) is accompanied by a procession of the ghosts of the dead.

This would logically be the direct inspiration for “All Souls’ Day” — the more so, since St Odilo instituted All Souls’ Day itself — except that I saw the fresco in August 2009, and “All Souls’ Day” was written a year earlier. It must be a coincidence; if you believe in coincidences.

If you really want a saint and a historical parallel, “All Souls’ Day” is more related to the life of St Charles Borromeo, who toured Switzerland at a time when even the bishops didn’t believe anything any more and had turned to making money from magic and sorcery (they shot at him, but missed). But that too was something I only spotted after I’d finished writing the story.

In the end, “All Souls’ Day”, like so many of the stories in this book, is really a love story: in this case, about a friendship that endures through everything and anything.

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Read the story when it appears on this blog next Monday. But why wait? Christmas is almost here and the book is out already, so buy it now!