Sea and Stars follows a healer from the Isle of Skye whose life is split open by a letter from her dead mother, sending her to America to find the family she never knew existed. Why place the story specifically between the Isle of Skye and Mystic, Connecticut?

I set Sea and Stars between The Isle of Skye and Mystic, Connecticut, because they are both liminal places haunted by history and steeped in magic. The Isle of Skye, an island located off the Northwest coast of Scotland, is rich in fairy folklore. Its rugged mountains, windswept moors, and rocky shores represent the independent spirit and natural beauty of the Porter line from which the main female character, Arabella, springs. Mystic, Connecticut, a village carved from two neighboring towns and named for its tidal river, represents the main male character, James Alden, and his privileged family. Although Mystic seems civilized on the surface, a troubled past bubbles beneath it, and this informs the secret at the heart of the novel. Since Sea and Stars engages with the traditions of Gothic romance, I wanted the settings in my story to function as living, breathing spaces that reflect and shape my characters’ identities.

In fairy tales and folklore, danger lurks in liminal spaces, but so does the capacity for meaningful transformation. Both the Isle of Skye and Mystic function as dangerous landscapes in Sea and Stars, but they also support the miraculous changes that come from emotional growth and authentic love. The temporal setting of Sea and Stars (1847—a year in the middle of the 19th century) also functions in a liminal way, and the spiritual transformations the characters undergo are meant to mirror the social and political changes of the 1840’s.

William Stafford represents a promise that doesn’t hold. What did you want to explore about expectations versus reality in the family?

Human life is full of conflicts between expectation and reality, and I wanted to explore the impact those conflicts have upon our sense of identity. Arabella is a hopeful young woman who believes her long-lost father, William Stafford, will rescue her from her lonely and isolated life, but the father she imagines is very different than the father she meets. It takes Arabella quite a while to reconcile her desire to know her father with her realization that he is not the savior she hoped he would be.

Since Sea and Stars is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in the real world, it was important for me to explore the fairy tale trope of the ineffective father in its pages. In finally understanding that her father is a flawed human being, Arabella learns to distinguish between action and intention, and she uses this knowledge to navigate her complex relationship with James. Once Arabella comes to terms with her father’s broken promises, she can move forward with her own life and follow through with the promises she chooses to make.

The relationships between Arabella, Catherine, Elinor, and Anne form a powerful thread. What drew you to explore generational female knowledge?

When I first began writing about Arabella (in a short character vignette titled Midsummer Magic), she was the last living member in a matriarchal line of healing practitioners, so generational female knowledge is at the heart of her identity. In the real world, knowledge passed down from mothers to daughters is often dismissed as gossip or categorized as “old wives’ tales,” but it continues to circulate because it has great value, and I wanted to honor the powerful wisdom and intuition of women in Sea and Stars. Although Arabella’s mother, Catherine, and her grandmother, Caitriona, are both deceased when Sea and Stars begins, they permeate the story, and their words guide Arabella when she needs them most.

Arabella meets Elinor and Anne in Mystic, and they soon become treasured parts of her found family. They are quite different than the women of the Porter Clan, but they care for Arabella in their own way. The love between Arabella and the many women who guide and protect her is an important part of her story.

The novel suggests that home is something built, not simply found. What does “home” mean for Arabella by the end of the story?

At the beginning of Sea and Stars, each setting is a specific place that the characters inhabit and move through, but as the story progresses, the settings take on metaphorical meanings. Arabella learns that home is not a physical landscape, but a space that can be crafted from the places and people we love. Together, she and James create a new home forged of memory, desire, acceptance, and an enduring commitment to stand by each other no matter what challenges may come. By the end of the story, Arabella defines “home” as a place she can carry with her because it is inseparable from her heart and soul.

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