Today we’re excited to chat with Karen Foxlee,
author of A Most Magical Girl! Below
you’ll find our interview,
more about Karen, and her book, plus a
giveaway!
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
Karen Foxlee: The memory of a place (a museum) and good old fashioned day‐dreaming gave me the idea for A Most Magical Girl. I was lying on my sofa thinking about a museum I visited a long time ago that contained a recreated Victorian era street. I suddenly saw a carriage arriving on that street and a pretty young girl step down. She stood before a shop window where the word’s Miss E &H Vine’s Magic Shop were printed. Wow! I thought, what going to happen here!? I’m also completely inspired by history, by magic, by the impact of the industrial revolution on landscape and by strong female heroes – so all of these things helped fuel A Most Magical Girl.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
KF: That’s like asking a mother which child is her favorite! I can still hear Annabel’s voice inside my head and miss her. I am completely intrigued by Kitty and her story. And I have a very big soft spot for the grumpy yet helpful troll Hafwen.
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
KF: Definitely the novel! It was called all manner of strange and terrible things before it became A Most Magical Girl. I think it’s one of those mysterious parts of writing; sometimes titles come straight away and other times they refuse to be known until the very end.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
KF: DON’T PANIC is the most important thing that I have learned. Stories take time to grow. They change and quite often most of what you write in the beginning is discarded. Writing a novel is a process of searching, puzzle‐solving, building and dismantling and rebuilding again. PANICKING doesn’t help that process!
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
KF: I love the light in artist Elly Mackay’s cover and inside illustrations. Also everything seems to be moving on the cover; the trees, Annabel’s dress and you can peer deeper and see the London rooftops behind. I’m completely in love with it.
YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2016?
KF: I so, so, so, so want another Stella Montgomery Intrigue by Judith Rossell. I just finished reading Withering‐by‐Sea and I am just hoping there is another one coming out in a few months!!!
YABC: What was your favorite book in 2015?
KF: My stand‐out favourite for 2015 was Martine Murray’s Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars. This is a middle grade book by another Aussie author and it is simply divine; quirky and moving and completely magical.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
KF: I’m writing a novel about love and being different and boy who grew too big! The story also includes an encyclopedia set, a disappearing father, and way too many beetles.
YABC: Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?
KF: Kitty was the most difficult. Annabel arrived straight away, fully‐assembled but Kitty, oh my goodness, she took about a year. Kitty was the type of character who kept changing shape, name, persona, everything really. But I loved her and I knew she was important, so I just stayed patient and eventually she became the final Kitty.
YABC: Which part of the writing process do you enjoy more: Drafting or Revising?
KF: Difficult question. The drafting is filled with anxiety for me, all the unknowns, but it is also the most magical part of writing. Anything is possible! Revising is my calm time. I love all that smoothing and making perfect but it sometimes lacks the excitement of drafting. I think I will sit on the fence: I just LOVE writing.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
KF: My superpower is…. Baking biscuits. If the world was ever in a crisis that could only be solved by several batches of chocolate chip biscuits, I’d be your go‐to superhero.
YABC: Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?
KF: The Leukaemia Foundation in Australia is very close to my heart. Leukaemia took my mother eighteen months ago. I recently raised money for them on my first ever five kilometre run and it is something I want to keep doing – finding new ways to raise money for that awesome organization.
Meet A Most Magical Girl!
From the author of Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy comes the story of a most unlikely magical girl set in a world with wizards, witches, a mysterious underworld, and a race against time.
Annabel Grey is a prim-and-proper Victorian girl who has been educated at Miss Finch’s Academy for Young Ladies. For her, magic is the stuff of fairy tales. But after her mother leaves home, Annabel is sent to live with her great-aunts who own (of all things) a magic shop. When the nefarious Mr. Angel demands that her aunts and their cohorts pledge allegiance to his rule and lay down their wands, it’s up to Annabel to brave the mysterious, and often dangerous, Under London to recover an all-powerful wand that will put an end to his dark magic.
Meet Karen Foxlee!
Karen Foxlee is the author of The Anatomy of Wings, The Midnight Dress, and the middle grade novel Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, which has received five starred reviews. She lives in Brisbane, Australia with her daughter.
A Most Magical Girl
By: Karen Foxlee
Release Date: August 2, 2016
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
One winner will receive a copy of A Most Magical Girl (US only).
*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*
It sounds like a sort of Harry Potter meets Jane Austen style book, could be interesting. Also I really like the cover, very beautiful art.
I love the synopsis! A story about magic with a headstrong, brave, leading lady overcoming obstacles and taking charge sounds like a great way for us ladies to finally show that we, too, can be chosen ones.
I love the illustrated cover! It makes it so much like an older story book that brings back magical memories of reading as a child. I also love witches and magic and the race against time will make this a page-turner.
I like the cover of the book. Annabel sounds like a good character. I look forward to reading her story.