08/15/2025
When I wrote Quest for the Phoenix for my niece Tori 2 years ago, I wanted to give her a story to show how amazing she was, just as she was, kind, funny, and loving. She said she loved it, but told me my next novel should be a dystopia, because she REALLY loved dystopias. I laughed and said, “But Tori! We live in a dystopia! It wouldn’t be fiction!”
But that conversation planted a seed that grew into a book, The North Passage. Over the next year, I saw many young people struggling with anxiety. Trying to make sense of this world we live in, the same as the adults, but without a larger frame of reference. ‘Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay,’ we say to them, while we are also filled with anxiety about the future.
I wanted to write a story that explained the larger unfolding in the world, the endless cycle of beginnings and endings. And though there is much beyond our control, we can still choose how to play our part in that story. The North Passage opens with another record-breaking hot summer, fears of war, and catastrophic natural disasters. Does that sound a little too real for fantasy? I tell you, as I wrote this book, I found life mirroring the words I wrote, and I knew this story was bigger than just a children’s book.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom. How can it be when you’ve got gnome friends like Malcolm and Seamus, always up for an adventure, with tea times planned and sorted of course. Tori and Hudson travel with them on a wild ride up the North Passage to the North Pole (because why not?) to find the mysterious Weavers. These ancient mystics wrote a prophecy that foretold this time we are in, the end of an Era. But what comes after the end? How do we create a new beginning? The children learn each of them plays a part in the Tapestry of Life. We choose what color, shape, and texture of thread we want to be, and our choices create a new world for all of us. What do you want the weave of the world to look like?
Middle Grade / YA Fiction that will appeal to fantasy readers of all ages. Available in Paperback or Ebook on Amazon
