A Kirkcudbright author and animal hospice owner has found an unlikely new market for her debut book – South Korea.
Alexis Fleming’s work No Life Too Small earned rave reviews following its launch in July 2021.
It details her daily struggles in caring for assorted animals as they near the end of their lives.
The uplifting mix of humour, sadness and joy wowed readers across Europe.
Now readers in the Asian country are to have the chance to enjoy a book packed full of love and endurance. Alexis, 40, told the News: “When the book was launched I got the offer on the day of a publishing deal in Korea.
“I hadn’t heard anything for the best part of two years. Then the other day word came through that it was going ahead.
“If feels a bit surreal, really. And I’m not sure how Scottish translates into Korean!”
The sales breakthrough comes as attitudes in the Asian country move with the times. Recent research by Animal protection group Humane Society International/Korea found that the tradition of eating dogs was diminishing with young people increasingly in favour of an outright ban.
Alexis, who runs the Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice at Ringliggate, said: “To get these stories into places that maybe don’t think of animals the same way as we do is amazing. It’s definitely a wildcard. The book has been fully translated with some beautiful illustrations.
“It seems the market over there strongly favours illustrations and photography and the publisher thought that would be a good way to pursue the idea.
“The illustrator is Temple Grandin, who is a big animals author.” She added: “The book has sold out it’s first print run in the UK so I’m pretty chuffed about that as well. And there’s a French translator who has offered to translate the book for free. Once that’s done she’s going to approach publishers in France about it.
Alexis’ book is already on shelves in the UK, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Australian and New Zealand.
