I need to tell a story about a horrible thing that led to a lovely thing.

I recently participated in an online auction called Authors For Grenfell, which was created to raise funds for the victims of the horrible fire in London. One of the items available to bid on was the chance to name a character in Philip Pullman’s new book, the Book of Dust 2.Needless to say, bidding was fierce. And then this happened.

Over 500 people added to James’s bid — not for themselves — but to add money to the bid from a teacher who wanted to name a character Nur Huda el-Wahabi, for an ex-pupil who died in the fire.
The final amount raised, just by this one item, was over £32,000. Nur Huda will live forever in the magical world of Mr. Pullman, and countless others who lost everything will benefit from this generosity.
From the ashes, good things rise…

P.S. The auction is over, but you can still donate to victims of the fire, if you wish. British Red Cross London Fire Relief Fund