These roses have been drawn. Unlike real roses, their image will never die. They will wait for us, forever.

Much is to be gleaned, at the foot of a grave; more than you know. Roberta Eaton Cheadle takes us to more than one place of eternal rest. She has fifteen tales for us to learn from.

Be it an icy death, in a cold cruel world of the future,

…. or a legend fraught from old wives’ tales, where tables turn in the wretched pit of a spider’s lair, should we be afraid?

Resa – Robbie, in And the Grave Awaits, Whether you have built a story from an old legend or an actual happening, there is something to be gleaned from each: a moral, life lesson or historical fact.

In other books, IE: Lion Scream, your sublime poetry (accompanied by brilliant photography)is filled with nature’s beauty, although animals and environment might cry out. 

“A Ghost and his Gold” shows the horror and senselessness of war. Yet, reveals a better nature of man, through its riveting story .

All the while you are teaching about the Boer War.

Your children’s books teach about many things, and are a positive energy.

WHAT DRIVES YOU TO DO THE GOOD WORK?

Robbie – Your question is an interesting one. I am a sensitive person and I see a lot of things that make me feel saddened. On the other hand, I am a very positive person and I usually manage to find the silver lining in life. I think both of these aspects of my personality, the seeing and the positivity, come through in my writing.

I love to share information, photographs, and interesting bits and pieces with other people. It promotes conversations and ignites new thought processes and ideas.

I think this love of sharing knowledge also comes through in my writing.

I especially like to teach children.

They are so eager to learn and discover.

Resa – From what age through adult do you think  And the Grave Awaits is cool to read?

Robbie – And the Grave Awaits is for adults, 18 years and upwards. 

Resa – I had to ask because  so many movies that are extremely violent and sexually suggestive are rated 14+ these days. When I was a kid, those same movies would have been restricted to 18+ , and we would have to show ID to get into the theatre.

Video games can be wildly violent, sexually suggestive, and seem to have very little parental oversight. This book seems mild compared to the games and movies I am referencing. I hope you don’t think I’m silly for asking. It occurred to me out of the blue, while working on the post.

Robbie– It is a thought provoking question and one I found a little difficult to answer. I listed this book on Amazon as a ‘normal’ adult book. No explicit sex obviously, and not overly dark compared to other books.

South Africa is still a conservative society, but it’s what I know and what I use as a benchmark. My aim with this book was to make people think about historical events and the reasons behind them. My purpose is to remind people what can happen if we don’t retain the human rights our ancestors fought for. People quickly forget the past and don’t know how easily rights can be undermined to the detriment of the ordinary person. 

I don’t consider it to be a YA book, although teens could read it, because the characters are not teens. My understanding from what I’ve read is its the age of the characters rather than the content per say, that separates YA and adult. 

Resa – I really appreciate your thoughtfulness on this topic. I have read a lot of your books, and have become a huge fan, because of your intrepid stance on what you convey through all of your artistic endeavours.

Following is a selection of street art. As in the first images of this post and in the cake and fondant art of Robbie’s, each image represents a tale in And the Grave Awaits.

If you’ve read the book and can’t figure what an image could represent, just ask in comments. If you haven’t read the book, you’ll have to read it to figure them out!

Robbie is a prolific writer. You can find her books on Amazon sites around the globe. Just search “Robbie Cheadle” for children and youth books – “Roberta Eaton Cheadle” for adult books.

Some of her books are also available on KOBO.

Visit Robbie on her blogs:

Roberta Writes and Robbies Inspiration

Robbie has a YouTube Channel  filled with African wildlife videos, readings and cooking videos.

On Robbie’s Unsplash Page find African nature & wildlife for free downloads.

Pics of street art © Resa McConaghy