My new novel, Diamonds and Roses, Vipers and Toads is a departure for me as a novelist. It’s an immersion into historical fantasy, folklore and fairy tales. I loved fairy tales as a kid but was struck with Diamonds and Toads, a story by Charles Perrault , also known as Les Fees, in which two sisters have an encounter with a magical being who forever alters their lives. One thing I always wondered was how does someone end up with a fairy as a godmother? And just what is is that motivates someone to become a witch — are you born as one, or do you aspire to it? What joys, if any, does witchery bring? And as for girls from humble backgrounds marrying princes, what challenges and intrigue do they face once they’ve moved from a humble farm into life in a palace?
I set this story in a fictional Northern European country at the dawn of the Renaissance, a time in which life was dangerous for women, even for those in the nobility, where they had little control over the major decisions of their lives. What might a woman do, what might she need to do, to secure her own safety and well being?
Ride your broomstick over to Amazon and read a sample.
bit.ly/DiamondsRosesVipersToads
