It was not difficult to reconnect at all-it was a total pleasure! Rose and Charles are both so dear to my heart. Was it tough to reconnect with Rose and Charles as you continued their story, or were their voices easy to resurrect? She’s a mom, but she’s still a very strong action heroine. So I began to weave a new journey for her-with even higher stakes. I also needed to discover how to make Rose-I probably shouldn’t say this!-the same kickass character. I continued to get so many letters from readers asking for more about Rose and her white bear, and I’d think to myself, “I already gave these two their happy-ever-after-I even gave them four children for heaven’s sake!” And then about two years ago, I had a “gotcha” moment that arrived as a “What if… ?” I can’t say specifically what it was-that would be a spoiler-and it took me a while to figure out the story, and who or what might not want Rose and Charles to live happily together. I’d always thought of East as a stand-alone book, and never thought I would write a sequel. I did a lot of research-in fact I still have folders filled with information about weaving, compasses, map-making, the Arctic-and of course white bears.Īn obvious question, given the time lapse between the pub dates of East and West: what inspired the sequel after so many years? I’m not sure why, but I decided to set the novel in 1500s Norway and I wanted to build a world to inform readers about what life was like then. At the time, there were no novels I could find based on “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” and I decided I wanted to try to write one-and to put my own spin on the tale. The years passed, and when I was in grad school studying to become a librarian, the first novel I read that was based on a fairy tale was Beauty by Robin McKinley, which gave me some insight into how you can make a layered novel from a relatively short fairy tale. I remember vividly loving the idea of this girl riding on the backs of the winds to get to different lands-she was a true inspiration. She sets out on a journey with a white bear-one of the fiercest predators in the animal kingdom-to save her family. She was so brave, resilient, and honorable-she had a moral compass to her. I fell in love with “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” a Norwegian story about a heroine who had no name-but who was everything I wished I was. Growing up outside of Chicago, I was a big reader, and I remember finding at the library The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, a collection of stories from many different cultures.

How and when did you come upon this classic Scandinavian tale-and why did it inspire you to write East?

East edith pattou series