Never Too Old for Unicorns: Former Falkirk schoolgirl, 14, has book published in Australia

Fourteen-year-old Lucy Hardie lived first in New Carron before moving to Stenhousemuir with parents Dawn and Andy. In March 2017 the family took the decision to emigrate to Australia, setting up their new home in the Melbourne suburb of Berwick and two years later moved to the Gold Coast.

Now the teen has used her experiences of moving from Scotland to Australia in her first book Never Too Old for Unicorns. Her efforts are also benefiting sick children with all the proceeds going to charity.

Mum Dawn explained: “From a very young age, Lucy has always enjoyed reading and writing and it became quickly apparent that she had a talent for this. Whilst at primary school her teachers always encouraged her passion for reading and writing. They were so impressed with one of her short stories, that they printed it in her primary school newsletter in Grade 5. She is part of the academic excellence program at high school, where she has continued with this passion for reading and writing and has been part of a local school competition, The Readers Cup, alongside some other pupils for the past two years.

"Growing up, Lucy has also loved unicorns. With her active and creative imagination, she begun chatting one day about what it would be like if her unicorn teddy was real, and the conversations they would have. As parents, we encouraged her to develop these idea’s, which started by her simply writing down these initial ideas on a piece of A4 paper. This then grew, and she would talk daily about funny thoughts that she had and continued to write these down. As a family, we have encouraged and supported Lucy throughout this process.”

The family worked with publishers and illustrators and eventually a delighted Lucy saw her words in print and on sale.

Her proud mum added that Lucy, who attended Larbert Playgroup, Carron Nursery and Carron Primary School, has detailed many of her own family and friends as the characters in her book. “Growing up, we would spend many enjoyable family days at Helix Park, which is why it was so special for this also to be included in Lucy’s book,” Dawn said.

When living in Stenhousemuir, Lucy used to attend a local drama class which has continued as another passion of hers and she is still involved with drama in Australia. She recently had a small part in a short film Nana’s Footsteps and is managing to combine her love of acting with her writing, as well as her school work.

Dawn added: “Never Too Old for Unicorns was always about Lucy’s passion for reading and writing and, as the book promotes, to always believe in yourself. This was why Lucy made the decision that she would like to donate all her author proceeds of the book to a charity. The Make-A-Wish charity was a clear choice for Lucy, with it supporting the dreams of critically ill children.”