Chantress: Inspiration

What inspired me to write Chantress?

A fateful trip to the Tower of London. Marriage to an Englishman. An entry in the OED. The bizarre journals of the Royal Society. A summer spent by the sea. All the choirs I ever belonged to (especially the ones that saved me in high school). The silence after a song is sung true.

I’m a visual writer, so there were images, too, wonderful ones of shipwrecks and spies and chained books and secret passages. You can see some of them in their full glory in “Chantress, Depicted” over on Mod Podge Bookshelf and on my Pinterest page.

All these things (and more) were the kindling.

But the match? I didn't have that till I asked myself the right question: If you were only allowed one more book, what would it be?