Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley on 5th January 2016
Pages: 365
Goodreads
Amazon Kindle, Audible
Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. The Brontë siblings find escape from their constrained lives via their rich imaginations. The glittering world of Verdopolis and the romantic and melancholy world of Gondal literally come to life under their pens, offering the sort of romance and intrigue missing from their isolated parsonage home. But at what price? As Branwell begins to slip into madness and the sisters feel their real lives slipping away, they must weigh the cost of their powerful imaginations, even as the characters they have created—the brooding Rogue and dashing Duke of Zamorna—refuse to let them go.
Gorgeously written and based on the Brontës’ juvenilia, Worlds of Ink and Shadow brings to life one of history’s most celebrated literary families in a thrilling, suspenseful fantasy.
Q&A
Tell us a little about you
I’m a New England girl who somehow made it up to Canada and then never left. I love both my home country and my adopted country. (I’m a dual citizen now.) I always wanted to write, but things kept getting in the way, so I didn’t publish my first novel (Witchlanders) until I was forty. Now I’m a full time writer living in Toronto.
Tell us about your new book
Worlds of Ink and Shadow is a portal fantasy about the young-adult Brontë siblings and the worlds they created in childhood. The fantasy worlds I write about in the book are based on the siblings’ existing childhood writings, so I did quite a bit of research—both on the real lives of the Brontës in Haworth in 1834, and on their juvenilia.
What is your favourite place to write
My desk. I’m not one of those wandering writers who prefers a coffee shop or library. I am a rabid fan of Scrivener and use it for all my novels.
Where do you get your character inspiration from?
Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre have always been two of my favourite books, so I think I’ve been intrigued by the Brontë family for a long time. When I finally read a biography of them and found out that they wrote about fantasy worlds when they were young, the idea for my novel was born.
What are your 3 desert island books?
I think I’d bring three books I’ve never been able to finish (but really want to): Moby Dick, Middlemarch and Gravity’s Rainbow.
What is your favourite place to read?
Under the pink umbrellas at Sugar Beach, Toronto, (which I can walk to).
What is your favourite book and why?
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. The characters are like my friends and it always makes me cry.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Travel! I’ll be living in Costa Rica for part of this winter—but I suppose that doesn’t count as ‘when I’m not writing’ because I will be writing while I’m there. I also love to cook, swim, read and hang out with other authors.
Chocolate or sweets?
Chocolate, please! (Seriously, is there chocolate?)
Is there a book you wished you wrote?
The middle-grade novel, A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge, probably the most inventive book I’ve ever read, for any age.
You have a free flight and accommodation to anywhere in the world where would you go?
Definitely Japan. It will be my next big trip. In fact, I’m starting Japanese lessons in the spring. Really, though, I will go anywhere. I love to travel and see new places.
What is your favourite season?
Summer.
Giveaway
Leave a Reply