Exclusive Extras
Inside Storming the Castle
Warning! In describing relations between characters, I may wreck a book for you by making it clear who someone marries, or the outcome of a book. Please do not read about The Inside Take if you're wary of knowing who is paired with whom!
- I’m the kind of writer who can’t seem to think in terms of one book: I invariably design a world that takes up three or four books. This leads to a virtual web of connections between my books. So what I offer below is something of a family tree, a way of chasing the characters whom you particularly like through several books, or of figuring out why a character’s name sounds so very familiar to you.
- The hero of this short story, Jonas Berwick, is the brother of Prince Gabriel Albrecht-Frederick William von Aschenberg of Warl-Marburg-Baalsfeld—otherwise known as the hero of A Kiss at Midnight. I had so many letters asking for Wick’s story that I couldn’t resist.
- As for baby Jonas, and his problems with colic, my children didn’t experience this condition (thank goodness). But, of course, many babies do—and the treatments for it back in the day were particularly draconian. Kate was doing her best, and her instincts were all correct, but she was very lucky that Philippa stormed the castle when she did. Babies die very quickly of dehydration.
- Princess Sophonisba was a readers’ favorite from A Kiss at Midnight: it was great fun to bring her back. She never hesitates to say exactly what she thinks: the kind of guest one loves to read about, but not to find at one’s dinner table!
- In the first version of this novella, Wick didn’t sweep Philippa onto a white steed and ride away with her… but then I realized that if one is writing fairy tales (and the story of a butler marrying a lady surely qualifies), one might as well go all the way. Bring on the white horse!
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