The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by KAREN FOXLEE is al fantasy-adventure about an abandoned girl, a friendly ogress and a terrible curse. Read on for a Q&A with the author.

What sparked the idea for The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe?

The idea for this story started with a sentence that kept repeating in my head.  It was: I had three names, the first was Lavender, which is a pretty name but with too many letters if you’re not  good at spelling. It’s strange how some stories arrive that way. I knew immediately that I had to tell the tale of Lavender and that it would be an adventure, that it would involve the sea (because I love the sea) and, of course, lots of magic.

Can you tell us a bit about Lavender Wolfe and what readers can expect from her journey in the book?

Lavender Wolfe is a young pickpurse who lives with her mother in a seaside town in 1719. One day, while she is waiting for her mother to fetch some food, she is snatched by the cook on a pirate ship and put to work in the ship’s kitchen. This isn’t just any ship though, it’s the most cursed and magical pirate ship on all the seas. At first Lavender wants to escape but when she learns there’s a cursed boy inside a shell, kept in a chest on a high shelf, she knows she has to help. Readers can expect loads of adventure on Lavender’s journey. They’ll find friendship, love, tragedy and loss. They’ll find dangerous magic, strange curses and stories within stories. And at the heart of it all they’ll always find Lavender, kind, smart and resilient, trying to make her way home.

The ship The Good Marchioness and its curse are richly imagined. How did you approach building the rules of magic in this story? 

I approached magic world building in my usual messy way. I always try to understand my characters first. I start with the really fine details of people. I spent months writing about Big Agatha’s kitchen, and the kitchen rats,  the children that work there. I wrote about where they had come from and the types of magic that they possessed. The world is built that way, from the bottom up, brick by brick. Eventually, the magical world as a whole begins to appear.. The world I built is a lot like the real world in 1719, only children can speak to the wind or catch storms in old brown bottles.

Did you draw from any maritime or pirate myths to shape the world in this story?

I have to admit I was a bit traumatised by Captain Hook from Peter Pan and Wendy growing up. I used to lay awake at night wondering if I’d ever have to walk the plank!  But I loved the idea of the lost boys and ships sailed by children.  And I’ve always been enchanted by adventure stories, where great journeys take place, either on land or at sea.  I  wanted to create a pirate story that flipped stereotypes of stealing and treasure hunting though.  In my story a treasure has to be returned. I think the story asks the question, what is the treasure in your life?  Is it stuff you own or the people you love and the friends you make?

What was the most enjoyable part of writing this novel? 

The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe is a big story, it takes place across  vast distances and time.  There’s lots of big, bold characters and stories nestled within stories.  I think the most enjoyable thing was making that all work, getting it to all make sense and unfold in a  page-turning way.

Can you describe this book in three words?

A Wondrous Adventure

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Foxlee is an Australian author who writes for both children and young adults. Her multi-award-winning books include Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy, A Most Magical Girl, the Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters series, Lenny’s Book of Everything and Dragon Skin. Karen writes and lives in Queensland with her daughter, cats and parrots. She loves books, swimming in the sea, planning holidays she can’t afford, and baking cakes whenever she has more important things to do.

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