Today we welcome author Zoë Marriott to the Inkpot to talk about her newest YA fantasy novel, SHADOWS OF THE MOON, a
beautifully rich and detailed story inspired by the traditional Cinderella
fairytale, but set in a fantasy world reminiscent of feudal Japan.
Sixteen-year-old Suzume is a shadow weaver, trained in the magical art of illusion. She can be anyone she wants to be -- except herself. Is she the girl of noble birth, trapped by the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama? A lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens? Or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Even Suzume is no longer sure of her true identity. But she is determined to steal the heart of the Moon Prince, and exact revenge on her stepfather for the death of her family. And nothing will stop her. Not even her love for fellow shadow weaver Otieno, the one man who can see through her illusions...
There's also a fabulous book trailer:
SHADOWS ON THE MOON is available now in stores, in both the UK and North America! You can read the first chapter for free here (note: link is a pdf). You can also learn more about Zoë and her books at her website!
Thanks for joining us here, Zoë! You've stated that SHADOWS ON THE MOON is inspired by the Cinderella fairy tale, and the question: "What if Cinderella wasn't a wimp? What if she was strong and brave and out for revenge all along?" Your first book, THE SWAN KINGDOM, is also inspired by a fairy tale. What is it about fairy tales that draws you to re-interpret them like this? Why do you think fairy tale retellings are so popular?
I've been in love with fairytales my whole life. As a child - right up until I left home, in fact - my walls were plastered with dozens of sketches and photocopies of illustrations from books of traditional fairystories, Greek and Norse myths, Chinese and Japanese folklore, Beowulf, Arthurian legend, the Mabinogion: I craved those ancient stories in a way I can't even describe. Nothing made me happier than finding a huge book of fairytales and hiding away on a windowsill or staircase and reading until my legs went numb or some member of my family rooted me out. Looking back I really was a very strange child! I couldn't have cared less about the boybands my contemporaries screamed for; I was in love with Gawain and Tristan, Cupid, Orpheus, Cuchulain, the Beast (and with George, King of the Rogue, from Tamora Pierce's Lioness Rampant Quartet).
Recently I did a blog-post where I talked about the dark, scary origins of many fairytales, the rape and filicide and wickedness that was excised from traditional stories in the Victorian era to make them clean and 'child friendly'. I got into trouble with some people who thought I was saying that I didn't like fairytales, or that they weren't suitable for children. Nothing could be further from the truth! I think our desire to keep those ancient stories alive, to reinterpret them, find new meaning in them, and create within them all the individual romances and enchantments that speak to us personally is a fundamental part of what makes us human!
So I'm a fairytale addict, basically. When I read a fairytale or any piece of folklore or mythology my mind immediately begins to seek out the shadowed gaps and jagged edges of the tale - all the places where we're told what people did but not why, what someone said but not what they felt, who someone was but not how they became that way in the first place. I call these the liminal spaces of a story. They're what fascinate me, and they're the reason I'm drawn to retell fairytales, because they hold so many endless possibilities for creating new meaning within the framework of powerful archetypes which are a part of our collective unconscious.
