Mr B, a wiry little man of fifty with white hair, was sitting in the back of a big white Land Rover when he saw the donkey. It was early evening and the dense rush-hour traffic in Peshawar was moving at a snail’s pace – which was just as well, for Mr B suddenly opened the door, leaped down onto the road and, without a word, sprinted away between the carts and lorries, the buses and the motorcycles…

Brian Sewell strays from the art world to tell the enchanting story of a man and his pet donkey, Pavlova.

Beautifully illustrated by the celebrated cartoonist Sally Ann Lasson, The White Umbrella is an allegorical tale about taking personal responsibility for our environment and the importance of both compassion and empathy. It is the perfect book for children and adults alike – a classic in the making to keep and to cherish.

‘Britain’s most famous and controversial art critic’ (Guardian), Brian Sewell is also the best-selling author of two volumes of autobiography – Outsider (ISBN 9780704372498) and Outsider II (ISBN 9780704372917). An Orwell Prize-winning journalist and renowned animal lover, his beloved dogs star in his further volume of memoir Sleeping with Dogs (ISBN 9780704373259).