Author Q&A: Hester Fox answers questions about The Witch of Willow Hall

Happy Monday! I want to start this week off by sharing a Q&A with Hester Fox, author of the Gothic Historical Fiction novel, The Witch of Willow Hall (publishing tomorrow, 10/2/2018). I posted my review of this book on friday, and you can see the reviews of the other Book Besties at the bottom of that page. Today I am sharing a Q&A with Hester that one of the Book Besties Berit (audio killed the bookmark) had the opportunity to do. Make sure to check out more from Berit (she always has so many fun things happening on her blog!) at the link I provided. I hope you enjoy this Q&A as much as I did!!

Q&A with Hester Fox

Have you always wanted to be an author? If yes why? If no what else did you want to be?

HF: I did want to be an author when I was little, but the list was pretty long. I think I also wanted to be a fashion designer, an actress, an archaeologist, and an animal right’s activist among other things.

Where did your idea for this book come from? Do you plan or fly by the seat of your pants?

HF: This was a pantsed story. I started out with the seed of an idea (the setting, and a young woman walking into a pond on hot summer’s night) and spun it out from there.

Who is your favorite character in your upcoming book? Are they based on anyone you know in real life? And why are they your favorite?

HF: Hm, that’s a tough question. I love all my characters, but Catherine was particularly fun to write. She does and says what she wants and has an overabundance of confidence.

If you could have dinner with any other living or dead author who would it be and why?

HF: Mary Shelley. Later generations got so much of her life wrong, I’d like to learn about her in her own words.

If you could be any supernatural being (witch, ghost, vampire, werewolf, zombie, etc.) what would it be and why?

HF: Ghost. I want to haunt a castle and get a cool moniker like “the lady in black” or something equally gothic.

Reflection

This was such a fun Q&A, especially because Hester is a new author on the scene. My favorite thing I learned in this interview was that Catherine was one of her favorite characters to write. If you haven’t read the book yet, Catherine is the elder sister and she is … for lack of a better term the “villain” of the family. Catherine is in part to blame for the situation (aka, scandal) the Montrose family finds themselves in. And Catherine is also typically a fairly self-serving character. But before you write her off, Catherine’s motives run deeper than mere vanity. Catherine was a fascinating character to read–she is both villain and victim. She is someone I found myself hating but also rooting for. I can imagine how fun her character was to explore! She is quite different from anyone else in the book.

It’s also fun to hear that Hester would be a ghost out of any supernatural being! The supernatural element to this book is a subtle backdrop to the growth of Lydia. But the supernatural elements were also so fun! We have mermaids, ghosts, and witches, all of which make it easy to imagine that other beings lurk in this world as well. The ghosts are deceiving too. Are the truly the same as the person they once were, or does something in their character fundamentally change when they pass on? Does this depend on their strength of character? You will find out this and more!

I hope you have a chance to read this wonderful book! Thank you to the team at Harlequin Books for partnering with us on this read.