The Wolf Princess Blog Tour: Q&A With Cathryn Constable

Hi Guys!

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting the lovely Cathryn Constable, author of The Wolf Princess. Cathryn has kindly answered a few questions for me, and make sure you check out my review of The Wolf Princess here.

About Cathryn

Cathryn Constable read Theology at Cambridge University. She then worked at Vogue, W, Elle Decoration, Elle and The Independent. She also wrote for a number of publications including Tatler, and The Sunday Times, before turning her hand to writing for children. She is married with three children and lives in Islington, London.

Wolf Princess is Cathryn’s first novel for Chicken House.

Q&A With Cathryn

Hi Cathryn, thank you for being here today

My pleasure!

Describe The Wolf Princess in less than seven words.

A mystery solved through dreams and memory. (Sorry, that’s seven exactly! I’d like to add ‘memory’ in there... snatches of memory are very important in The Wolf Princess.)

What do you think makes The Wolf Princess different to other books in the young adult market?

Perhaps it’s a book where mood is quite important rather than just ‘what happens’.

The setting in The Wolf Princess is very vivid, what inspired you to write a book set in a cold Russia?

I do have a thing for snow... The way it transforms even the most boring landscape into something magical. But also, I love Russian literature and I found it very difficult, when I started writing, to keep Russia out of the book.

The tone of The Wolf Princess is very magical and fairytale like, did you take inspiration from any fairy tales or books when writing the book?

It’s funny, because I don’t really see it like that... I think if I took inspiration from anything, it would be from photographers like Deborah Turbeville or old films where things are shadowy and you can’t see everything in one glance.

What books would you recommend to everyone?

The Narnia books because they make you understand there is more. I think, as young adults, we feel this very strongly, this sense that life could go off in another direction, or miracles might occur... But mostly, as we get older, if we’re not careful, this ability to feel magic, to remember that sense that there might be somewhere ‘other’ leaves us. But at least, if you’ve read those books, you know there might be more.

If you could meet any five people, dead or alive, who would it be?

I presume I’d be able to speak their language etc? You’re not going to be like the Psammead in Five Children and It and grant me an overly literal wish are you? Awful to turn up to meet, say, Jesus and be very rusty in Aramaic! (Although it might be just as interesting to speak to Mary Magdalene...) Isaac Babel, the Russian writer. Tolstoy, obviously (can I just ask... Are any of these people happy to see me? Or are they going to be fantastically grumpy?) I mean, I’d like to meet someone truly awful and be able to say the one thing that would stop them embarking on something dreadful. Sadly, there are probably rather more than five of them.

Sometimes I think it would be lovely to go back and meet William Scales who was killed very young in WW1 when a shell hit the farmhouse he was billeted in. He’s not anyone famous, just a member of my father’s family who was adored by his parents and yet, like so many of that generation, was lost.

Finally, do you have any last words to say to my readers?

Just thank you!

Thank you for being here Cathryn!

Isn't she just lovely?! You guys must check out The Wolf Princess, it's beautiful and magical! I can't wait to read more from Cathryn!