Charlie Mackesy reveals much of his new book was lost when iPad was stolen

Author and illustrator Charlie Mackesy, famous for his bestselling book The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse, has revealed it took him six years to complete his next book because his iPad full of ideas was stolen.

His latest book, Always Remember, sees the return of all the much-loved characters from his previous book, but the author believes he could have finished the book sooner if he had been able to keep his iPad.

“A lot of drawings were stolen from my car,” he explained.

“I started doing rough drawings for the book and writing situations on the iPad because it was easier. So I actually put together a lot of pages and the book didn’t back itself up.”

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse became a sensation in quarantine and received this name in 2021. The UK’s best-selling adult hardcover book of all time.

Speaking in the art studio of his flat in Brixton, he becomes visibly startled as he remembers what happened.

“I actually ran to the Co-op to get some snacks, chatted to Jen who worked there, and went out again. I didn’t lock the car. I’m an idiot.”

He said the iPad was in the passenger seat and that he lost “quite a chunk” of the book.

He spent the next few nights lying in bed saying: “What was that? What did I say?” and I’m trying to remember the missing parts.

After that, the way he deals with the loss of the iPad reads like the kind of positive advice that made his first book such a phenomenon during the pandemic.

“Like all these things, you either faint and give up, or you say, ‘This can’t stop me.’” This room is full of drawings, so I can go back and look and dig deep and try and remember.

“I guess it was just another little setback that made you question whether what you were doing was worthwhile.”

The theft wasn’t the only major blow Mackesy suffered during the creation of Always Remember.

He lost his “lovely mother” two years ago and his beloved dog Barney, who inspired the character Mole, also passed away.

“He was 19. He’s flying now,” Mackesy says wistfully.

“It was very difficult, very raw, because you’re with the animals 24 hours a day and it wasn’t easy.”

The 62-year-old actor has been trying to figure out how to deal with overachievement and debilitating grief for the past few years.

While Oscar and Bafta awards were received for the animated short film of the first book, publication records were broken on the Sunday Times bestseller list for weeks in a row.

But he also has to deal with the deaths of numerous loved ones.

“Big problems arise indiscriminately. Everyone has to go through them,” he nodded.

“And just because you’re successful at something doesn’t mean you won’t suffer. It’s part of being human.

“Life is wonderful, beautiful, and difficult at the same time. And it’s important to talk about it.”

And boy there are people who want to talk to him.

Mackesy describes how he received a “terrifying number of emails” through his website during lockdown, and recalls once saying his phone had 86,000 unread emails.

“While eating spaghetti or sleeping, the book is still busy,” he describes.

Many were from nurses and doctors in Covid wards and teachers without students, who printed his images to encourage others.

He also describes the privilege of meeting people who say they are alive simply because of one of his drawings, and tells the story of a 19-year-old who lined up at a book signing just to say he “stayed.”

By this he meant that he had decided not to end his life and that it was brave to ask for help.

“If we had made the book just for that, it would have been worth it,” Mackesy thinks.

“That’s how I define success—getting information from real people.”

As for how he spends his profits from the book, it’s more a matter of rewilding than wildlife.

“Well, I’m paying the rent a little better than I used to,” he surmises, “But I’m living in the same house wearing the same old sweater,” he adds, and reveals his big extravagance: planting 2,000 trees in Suffolk.

“I’ve become obsessed with trees. I’ve bought some land and I can’t stop. Even when I was on the train here, I was thinking about buying alder, alder.

“A few bird cherry trees, because it revitalizes the soil. This land was very quiet when I bought it, now it’s full of butterflies and bees. It’s wild. I can sit there and say, ‘Look at these. It wasn’t here before.’

“There’s a void in living a certain way, and if you can help someone out there or do something for the environment. It’s good to give back in some way.”

I gently ask if part of his motivation was to replace some of the many trees that had to be cut down to produce the millions of copies of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse that were sold.

“I can’t believe you said that,” he laughs in mock disbelief.

“I do it because I love it and it’s a good thing. Trees live longer than us and we know they’re good for the Earth. And they’re beautiful. They just take a little time.”

This is said by someone who should know; Mackesy became an overnight success shortly before he turned 60.

Future plans include working on a new project involving a girl and an elephant; There is a planned collaboration with the V&A Museum and she hopes to create a non-blank, blank diary with encouraging messages designed to make the blank page less scary.

One thing he won’t stop doing is putting pen to paper.

“I can’t shake the feeling that if I make another drawing, I might hear from a lady in Australia who can’t get up in the morning, or a man in rehab. It’s a desire to connect in a life-giving way.”

He pauses and adds: “I’m not very good at explaining why I do things.”

But there’s no doubt about the one thing he plans to do next: Lock his car door when he enters the co-op.