THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED (The Dispossessed #1) by Page Morgan - debuting May 14th 2013 from Delacorte Books For Young Readers
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Fans of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series and Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy will devour The Beautiful and the Cursed, a wholly original interpretation of gargoyle lore.
It was bizarre and inexplicable, but after it happened no one spoke of it and Ingrid Waverly was forced to leave her life in London behind. She had to trade a world full of fancy dresses and society events for Paris with her mother and younger sister, Gabby.
In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house her twin brother Grayson found for them isn't a house at all. It's an abbey. A creepy, old abbey with a roof lined in stone gargoyles that one could almost mistake for living, breathing creatures.
And Grayson is missing.
Yet no one seems to be concerned about Grayson's whereabouts save for Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant who has some secrets of his own.
There's one secret about the city that he can't keep hidden, though. There's a murderer on the loose. And every day Grayson is missing means that there's less of a chance he's alive.
Ingrid is sure her twin isn't dead--she can feel it deep in her soul--but she knows he's in grave danger, and that it's up to her and Gabby to find him before all hope is lost.
Only the path to him is more than she could ever imagine.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW with PAGE MORGAN!
1. Describe your book
in 5 words.
Gothic. Dark. Star crossed love.
Blood. Gargoyles.
2. Your debut book
THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED is slated for release in 2013. Is there anything
more you can tell us about the series or characters? And what kind of research
did you have to do for the story – do you have any interesting stories to tell?
Yes! May 2013. There will be two more novels in the series along with
three short stories available in e-book format. Research is one of my favorite
parts of writing. When I wrote the book, I hadn’t yet been to Paris, so I used
a lot of online walking tours, photographs, first-hand documents—really,
anything I could get my hands on. I loved researching the clothing my
characters would be wearing, too. I wish we could still be wearing such elegant
styles (minus the corsets, of course!).
3. Can you tell us
about yourself and your publishing journey? How did you get started?
My publishing road has been very long and bumpy, but I never even
considered giving up. There is nothing else I would rather do than write books
and tell stories. I love writing. This is truly my dream job.
4. What is your
favorite part about being a writer? Is it creating the characters or world? Is
it being able to get lost in your imagination? Or is it something else?
I think it’s the complete freedom to create something that wasn’t there
before. When I was growing up there was nothing more exciting to me than a
blank piece of paper and a newly sharpened pencil. Now, I love creating a new
Word document and filling in all that white space with whatever my imagination
comes up with.
5. How did your main
character/s come to life? What was the inspiration behind Ingrid Waverly?
When I first started writing, I had Ingrid as the sole POV, told in
first person. That quickly changed as I realized the world and mythology I was
building was much too big for one POV. So I ended up with four POVs told in
third person. Ingrid is the main character still, but there is also Gabby, her
younger sister; Luc, the mysterious servant who has some pretty big secrets of
his own; and Grayson, Ingrid’s twin brother. It was surprisingly fun to jump
between all these characters and give them all their own personalities and
voices.
6. I'm a sucker for
romance in my books, is there something you can tell us about the romance in
THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED?
Well, it definitely has a strong romantic element! Ingrid and Gabby
have their own tempestuous love lives to navigate. Gabby’s love interest, a
demon hunter named Nolan, is especially fun to write: he’s a big, brawny and
sarcastic Scot!
7. What made you
decide to write a Young Adult book? And why gargoyles? (I think we needs some
more gargoyles in YA!) :)
I pretty much live and breathe YA so it made sense to write it. And when
it comes to the gargoyles…I don’t really know! They’re such ugly, creepy things
in real life, and when I learned that they were actually symbols of protection,
my imagination just took off.
8. Why did you chose
Paris as the setting for your book? And have you been there?
It wasn’t really something I had to contemplate. The story just
demanded it take place there, and with all the old churches and architecture to
work with many of them including chimera/gargoyles, it felt like the right
setting. I hadn’t been to Paris, though I did go recently to do some research.
My main character, Ingrid, feels like a fish out of water when she arrives in
the city and I think I could lend her that because I, myself, was completely
ignorant about what Paris really had to offer.
9. As a reader, what
is the most important to you, the characters or the plot? As a writer, is it
different?
I can’t say one outweighs the other. As a writer, you have to have both
things: plot can’t happen without character, and characters can’t develop
without plot. The two really go hand-in-hand. I can say, however, that plot is
always easier for me to write. Character building is where I am challenged as a
writer.
10. I love the cover
for THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED! Did you have any input on the cover? Did you
imagined/expected it to look different? And how difficult was it for you to
come up with a title for THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED? Is there any significant
or deep meaning about the title and the cover?
Like most authors, I had very little input when it came to the title
and the cover. My working title, Grotesque, ended up getting the axe! The cover
changed multiple times, too. Delacorte was amazing though. Each time the cover
changed they always asked me what my thoughts were and they actually
implemented a few of them.
11. Aside from THE
BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED coming out next year, what else can we expect from
you? In 2013 and 2014? New books, new stuff?
With the second and third books in the series to write, along with some
original short stories starring some of the side characters, my next few years
are filled to the brim! I couldn’t be happier, though!
Thank you to author Page Morgan for this interview!! It just made me super excited for this book than before!!
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I AM DYING FOR THIS BOOK. Aren't you??
Research is your favorite part of writing? How lucky you are! =)
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