Patricia O'Neill
Author / Publisher

How Sonria Books Was Born

Magic happened the instant I set foot in Sonria Place. It was love at first sight. Even though the old dusty pink villa had seen better days, joy, happiness and good energy were in abundant supply.

Delving into the history of the house, I discovered that the original owner was a bon-vivant and socialite of Irish origin, known locally as ‘Lady Sonria’. I could feel her presence like an angel over my shoulder as I wrote. A friend told me that Sonria is the Spanish word for Smile. That made sense! So that is how Sonria Books got its name. I wanted to create books which would make people smile.

The elephant is symbolic of my godmother, aunty May. She died when I was around six and gave me my first book ‘The Saggy Baggy Elephant’ which I still have. She used to say that like elephants, I had a retentive memory and that “elephants never forget”—hence the elephant with his trunk up for good luck.

My wish for Sonria is to create books that will make the reader smile and that they will never forget…