Caroline Vaught asked Lori Goldstein:

What was your inspiration for BECOMING JINN?

Lori Goldstein BECOMING JINN was inspired by a name I heard on the news. A few years ago, there was a devastating earthquake in Turkey. A mother and her infant daughter were pulled from the rubble and both miraculously survived. That baby’s name was Azra, which is my protagonist in BECOMING JINN.

As soon as I heard the name, a character popped into my head. I didn’t know she was a Jinn right off the bat, but as I explored what kind of story I could build around her, I was drawn to one that would allow me to add touches from these other cultures. A fan of contemporary, I decided to merge the fantasy elements with our modern world and drop Azra and her Jinn family into the world in which I live—quite literally into my home state of Massachusetts.

Thanks for asking!

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