My next novel, The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle (out from Viking 3/15/16), is a middle grade mystery that’s part fantasy, part historical fiction. It’s set in Scotland in 1940, although it also contains a parallel story in a much earlier timeline. I thought it would be fun to run a series of blog posts on both the historical context of the novel, and the setting itself, as well as some of the fantasy aspects of the story.

Here are some of the topics I’m hoping to cover in upcoming posts, all of which play a role in the story:

• the London Blitz and other aspects of the early years of World War 2
• some early history of Scotland, plus landscape, mythology, culture
• spies, U-boats, enigma machines
• mechanical clocks, mathematical algorithms
• chatelaines

These are just a few of the possible subjects. For this post, I’d like to give you a small taste of the story. Plus…I’m running a SWAG giveaway!

First, a little teaser from the novel:

Kat stepped forward, hesitant. She unclasped the chatelaine and held it up. The three items—pen, scissors, thimble—swayed as they dangled from her fingers.

 Aunt Margaret leaned toward Kat, her lips close to Kat’s ear, and dropped her voice to a whisper. “It’s quite magical, you know.”

 “I’m sorry?” Kat whispered back. “Did you say magical?” Oh, goodness. Kat saw worry in the set of Mum’s face.

 Aunt Margaret straightened. “Yes, my dear. I shall explain. But do remember this: be careful with magic.” She fixed her eyes on Kat’s. “Do you hear me, Katherine? Magic is tricky. There is always a price to pay for its use.”

If you’d like more, and you haven’t already subscribed to this blog or my newsletter, there’s a longer excerpt waiting for you as a gift for subscribing.

Now to the giveaway! If you pre-order a copy of The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle from my local indie, Country Bookshelf, you’ll receive*

• a signed/personalized copy of the book
• a necklace with charm (*while supplies last; one per customer)
• a rook temporary tattoo

You can also preorder the book from your own indie, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble; the giveaway is only through Country Bookshelf. (But watch this space…there will be more giveaways as pub date draws near!)

In my next post I’ll talk about the early war years of World War 2 in England, including the London Blitz.