Lindsey asked Brigid Kemmerer:

I know I'm late to the party (really Late) but I cannot thank you enough for writing about with a disabled main character, Harper and her cerebral palsy really connected with me. As some one privileged (lol) to have cerebral palsy I was so happy to see representation! And Well written representation at that. So Thank you. Can I ask what inspired you to use Cerebral palsy rather then another choice?

Brigid Kemmerer You're not late to the party! And thank you so much for the kind words! For Harper specifically, I knew that Rhen was going to be cursed by magic, but Harper would see him as privileged and not really cursed at all. Just like she says when she challenges him, he lives in a stunning castle with an endless supply of food and calls himself "cursed," but she doesn't really know the whole story. I wanted to juxtapose that a bit with Harper. I wanted her to just be a girl in a situation that Rhen would see as a challenge or a "curse," but for Harper, it would just be who she was. When I was growing up, I had a friend with CP, and it was something I hadn't seen in a book, so I decided to go in that direction, especially since I knew I could lean on my friend for early research, haha. From there, I had to do a ton of research and hire authenticity readers, because it was super important to me that Harper was a regular girl with CP. It means a lot to me that so very many readers from so many walks of life have identified with Harper as a character!

flag