Charlie Mackesy is signing copies of his book, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse in an art gallery just off Tottenham Court Road. There’s a long queue of people waiting patiently, some clutching as many as six copies and armfuls of limited-edition prints (£70 unsigned, £150 signed), while his original pen-and-wash sketches for the book are still hanging on the walls (£3,000 to £10,000 each), dotted with “sold” stickers.
Since it was published in October, sales of Mackesy’s touching fable about a young boy who makes friends with a mole, a fox and a horse have snowballed to almost 300,000 copies, making it one of this year’s bestselling titles. Walk past any bookshop window and you’ll see it prominently displayed, with the printers apparently working round the clock to meet such phenomenal demand.
Quite why this debut by an unkempt 57-year-old man with flyaway hair, who refers to himself as a “grubby artist”, has taken off so definitively is down to a combination of factors, not least some inexplicable alchemy that occasionally produces an unexpected hit.
It would be easy to write the book off as the literary equivalent of a scented candle: harmless and inoffensive. However, many people, including Mackesy’s friends Richard Curtis and Bear Grylls, have praised its profound wisdom. There’s no doubt that there’s something powerful in his simple messages about the need to know ourselves better and to be more compassionate.
While it has universal appeal, children and oldies especially will delight in the illustrations, not unlike E H Shepard’s Winnie-the-Pooh drawings, together with such aphorisms as: “‘What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever said?’ asked the boy. ‘Help,’ said the horse.”
Though not originally intended for children, Mackesy’s work is now being used in schools and hospitals to tackle mental health issues. It’s a subject that the atheist-turned-evangelical Christian has addressed at Holy Trinity Brompton, where he is a regular speaker.
The book’s rapid rise up the charts is also down to the power of Instagram. Mackesy began posting his one-off sketches a couple of years ago, and his followers are growing daily, 221k at the time of writing. Every post gets thousands of “likes” and hundreds of comments, while Ebury editorial director Laura Higginson loved the posts so much she commissioned the book.
Mackesy is overwhelmed by its success but insists he’s not interested in money or sales. “In fact, it’s quite a shock to hear about how many copies have sold. I didn’t write it for that; I’ve already got a roof over my head and can pay for my food. For me, success is about listening to stories from people who’ve struggled.
“We all struggle, and that’s the point. I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t struggle with something. Being human is really difficult and we just need to be as kind to ourselves and to each other as possible.” Increasingly, strangers come up to him and open their hearts, telling him how he has changed their lives. “People have told me truly shocking stories of loss. They’ve stood in front of me and said they wouldn’t be here — women with mascara pouring down their faces — and then I have to leave the building because I can’t cope,” he says, with a sincere intensity. “It’s not as if I set out to do this at all actually. It just happened from some gut instinct about how I find life very difficult.”
Mackesy grew up in Northumberland and was educated at Radley College. He failed to make it through university or art college, but worked as a cartoonist at The Spectator and illustrated books for Oxford University Press before getting his first gallery show. Deeply affected by his best friend’s death in a car crash at the age of 18, he has always struggled with depression and anxiety.
Has life got any easier with age? “No, I think it gets harder. But what I do find is that the more we talk to each other and tell the truth about how we feel — especially for men — the more courageous we become. The idea of being truly honest is a huge thing and in that honesty we can be loved.” And that, he says, is the main message of the book.
“‘So you know all about me?’ asked the boy. ‘Yes,’ said the horse. ‘And you still love me?’ ‘We love you all the more’.”
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse is published by Ebury (£16.99)
