Happy Thursday my lovely friends, I’m really excited to welcome my next guest to my author series, Anna Waterworth.

Under the Cover is where I interview some of favourite authors and authors I’ve recently read and discovered. I’m trying to refresh my blog and I love interviewing authors and getting an insight into their storytelling, hence Under the Cover was born.

Anna is best known for her Fandom duology which I read years ago and loved it. She has returned this year with a brand new Greek Mythology retelling, The Girl Who Grew Wings. It is stunning.

So sit back, grab a coffee or tea and delve into the mind of Anna with an in-depth look behind the scenes of the book and its origins.

The Girl Who Grew Wings Published by Chicken House on 6 July 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance
Amazon | Waterstones
Goodreads

In the citadel of Appollis, the Gods bestow single gifts on a chosen few. Icari has always known she's a Healer, while her twin sister, Sephie, is cast as an Embalmer, despite showing early promise as an Alchemist - a secret the sisters keep to themselves for possessing two skills is punishable by death. While Sephie learns how to wrap the dead, Icari eases the suffering of others, including a charismatic enemy prisoner called Caszeil. And it's to Caszeil that Icari turns when demons rise up from the Underworld and kidnap her sister. With his help, perhaps she can rescue Sephie. Even if this means growing wings - and flying in the face of the devil himself . . .

Interview with Anna Waterworth

Can you pick a quote to summarise your book The Girl Who Grew Wings?

‘Demons of the Underworld do not deserve their wings, we mortals do.’ 

What a great question! It’s a hard one, but I think the opening line of the novel is probably the best. This line is actually referring to the fact that in Icari’s world, mortals grind up the feathers of demons in order to produce a white powder that numbs pain. Icari is a healer and her patients are in dire need of this anesthetic. However, as she moves along her journey, we discover that she needs the wings of demons for a whole different reason, and she must — as a woman in a patriarchal society — come to realise that she deserves to fly as much as any man or any God. So it’s a line that sums up the feminist theme of the novel.

Some of you may know your work The Fandom series, as you wrote them under Anna Day which I loved. I’ve always been intrigued by author pen names, why did you write your latest YA and your MG book under a different name? 

Ah thank you. I’m so pleased you enjoyed Fandom. I write my MG as Anna Rainbow so there’s an obvious divide and younger readers don’t accidentally pick up my YA books and read a load of swear words and inappropriate scenes. I chose Rainbow because it’s my partner’s surname, and my youngest child’s surname. For my YA novels, I’ve moved back to my maiden name because I’m divorced. Plus, my Dad is convinced the Waterworth name is dying out, and it was so amazing to see his great big smile when I showed him the book cover. My big kids are still Day, but they didn’t mind me changing my name at all, so everyone’s happy!

The Girl Who Grew Wings is inspired by myths of Icarus and Persephone, is this your favourite part of Greek Mythology, why this one story?

I’ve always loved Greek mythology, it was part of my childhood because my Dad was obsessed with it. Icarus always stood out because who doesn’t love the idea of flying, especially as a kid? 

Would you like to write more retellings based on Greek mythology? 

Yes, I’d love to. 

It feels like such a long time since your previous YA book, do you have any highlights or challenges when writing this book?

The hardest thing was probably covid getting in the way. Both in terms of the publishing schedule (I signed the contract for this book and started writing it in 2018) but also in terms of me becoming very ill with covid and having to manage my own ongoing health difficulties. So instead of a continuous writing process, it has felt quite disjointed at times. But I think writing it on and off over such a long period of time has also meant that I connected to the characters and the themes more deeply, and that I brought more life experience to it during the actual writing. For example, I was writing The Girl Who Grew Wings when I was pregnant and nursing, but also when I was in the depths of long covid – I like to think that the light and the dark of these different experiences shine through the novel.

Did you have a favourite scene you enjoyed writing, without any spoilers. 🙂

I love writing romantic scenes, so I really enjoyed writing the Icari and Caszeil scenes, and the Sephie and Talia scenes. I shipped Talia and Sephie so hard haha! I also really enjoyed writing the finale because it’s so dramatic, and that’s me in a nutshell.

I’m always curious about a book’s journey… specifically the title of the book. Was your book always called The Girl Who Grew Wings? Did it change throughout the process? 

From the moment I decided I wanted to write an Icarus reimagining in 2017, the title was born. It’s the first time my publisher didn’t have ideas or recommendations and just said ‘yes, perfect, let’s go with that.’ 

The cover is absolutely stunning. When it comes to the cover design, did you have an idea of what you wanted or did the designer have creative control? 

The cover is by Andrew Davis and I couldn’t be happier with it. I cried the first time I saw it. I had no input at all, other than to gush about it. It’s all Andrew, and it’s quite wonderful!

What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?

So many, it’s hard to say. I’m not sure I can pick any one out. I read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi as a teenager, and I think this really influenced me. As I got older, I began enjoying books like The Hunger Games and Twilight, which steered me more towards YA. But I still read widely, and I love adult horror and thrillers, the likes of Jason Arnop and Catriona Ward, and I think some of this darkness comes through in my writing. When I was writing The Girl Who Grew Wings, I savoured writing the scenes set in the dungeons and the catacombs just as much, if not more, than the scenes set in the oasis and the temples.

Finally, if you could recommend 3 books to read, what would it be? 

Oh no this is far too hard. I’m going to stick to Greek mythology to make it easier if that’s ok.

In no particular order because they’re all amazing – Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald; Her Dark Wings by Melinda Salisbury; and Daughter of Darkness by Katharine and Elizabeth Corr.

Thank you so much to Anna and Chicken House Books for being part of my series. The Girl Who Grew Wings is out NOW!