- Simon & Schuster launched paper edition of Lily and the Octopus with meaningful installation
- Memorial, reminiscent of Paris’ ‘Love Lock Bridge’, gathers personal memories and personalised tags of pets past and present
- Influential dachshund influencers and celebrity dog owners add tags to pet memorial – including Ashleigh Butler, Monty The Mini DachShund, Margot About Town and Bun The Sausage Dog
[London – 9th September 2017] – To tease the launch of the paperback edition of the critically acclaimed Lily and the Octopus (5th October 2017), publisher Simon & Schuster, has created an interactive memorial to celebrate the nation’s love affair for pets – loved and lost.
Located on Hoxton Square, London, and built to coincide with National Pet Memorial Day (10th September), the installation welcomed anyone who has ever experienced loving or losing a cherished pet. Reminiscent of Paris’ ‘Love Lock Bridge’ concept, the publisher encouraged pet owners – past and present – to gather and share heartwarming stories, and attaching a personalised name tag to the metal wire frame of the memorial forming a ‘Pont de Pets’ installation in Hoxton.
There were dozens of dachshunds from St Albans’ Sausage Dog Hotel present, along with influential dachshund influencers and celebrity dog owners who added a tag to the pet memorial. A tag was even added on behalf of Ashleigh Butler – Britain’s Got Talent winner – to remember beloved Pudsey. The #NeverFURget pet memorial was also adorned in dachshund balloons, free paperback copies of the novel for the taking, and treats for every pet and their human.
The installation reflected the red thread which ran through the critically acclaimed best-selling novel, Lily and the Octopus – the exceedingly authentic, keenly insightful, and heartbreakingly poignant tribute to the purity of love between an owner and their pet.
Justine Gold at Simon & Schuster said: “By telling the tale of Ted and his beloved dachshund Lily, we are hoping to offer a special space where pet owners are inspired to remember, reflect and share memories about their pets, loved and lost, this Pet Memorial Day.”
Richard Vlietstra at Simon & Schuster added: “We wanted a way to symbolise unbreakable love, just like the couples who write their names on padlocks and attach them to the famous ‘Love Lock’ bridge in Paris.”
Steven Rowley, Author of Lily and the Octopus, said of the memorial; “Dogs are always good and full of selfless love and should celebrated whether they’ve past or still with us. They are undiluted vessels of joy who never, ever deserve anything bad that happens to them.”
Speaking of his best selling novel, he continues; “Most of all, I am thankful for Lily, who, since she entered my life, has taught me everything I know about patience and kindness and meeting adversity with quiet dignity and grace. No one made me laugh harder, or want to hug them tighter; she has truly lived up to the promise of man’s best friend.”