I've just realized that although I wrote a bit about Ivy’s Choice and a bit about Larkspur’s Quest, I never wrote anything about Maythorn’s Wish and Hazel’s Promise, so here goes...

I started writing Maythorn’s Wish while I was working on the Milford Track, and Glade Forest is and isn’t the forest around Glade House, where I was based. The Milford Track is pretty magical, but when you go exploring off-track you’re more likely to run into these guys, not Faeries.



Yes, that is an actual photo of an actual kiwi that I bumped into one night! It was a pretty exciting moment for me—and a little unnerving for the kiwi.

Hazel’s Promise was written after I’d finished working on the track, but before I went back to civilization proper. I was on Stewart Island, which is very remote, but does have electricity, a few cars, cellphone coverage, and a tiny library that’s open one hour a day, four times a week.

Hazel’s Promise is the only novella in the quartet that takes place outside the fairytale safety of Dapple Vale. Hazel encounters the reality of Medieval England—and it’s dirty, dangerous, and smelly! This drawing isn’t Mottlethorpe, but it easily could be.



I guess that doesn’t really tell you much about the novellas though, does it? Let’s see...

Maythorn’s Wish is an emotional story about courage and new beginnings; Hazel’s Promise is a light-hearted tale about disguises and seeing people for who they really are. Both novellas have strong heroines, and they both have heroes I adore—Ren Blacksmith because he’s so kind and wise, and Tam Dappleward because he laughs his way through life.

What else can I say about them?

Someone told me that Maythorn's Wish made her tearful at the end. That's good, right?

And Hazel's Promise makes me laugh in several places.

So there you have it: a little bit about Maythorn’s Wish and Hazel’s Promise.

Happy reading!

Emily

[Kiwi image © me! Mottlethorpe image courtesy of the Rijksmuseum public domain collection.]