There is a dastardly villain, swoon-worthy love inter- ests, nail-biting action sequences and physical comedy, and that is before we even get to the luscious descriptions of food. Roast duck drizzled with almond and pomegran- ate sauce, butered greens and fondant potatoes, anyone? Publisher Farshore, now part of HarperCollins Children’s Books, acquired the book in a major pre- empt and when announcing the deal, it promised “an irresistible romantic comedy bursting with high-stakes adventure”. The book doesn’t disappoint. The girls’ stories are told in
alternating chapters: Webber took on Rose, and Doyle Wren. “Once we started talking about this idea the ideas flowed out of us for each of the girls,” says Doyle, who is not only friends with Webber but will soon be family—she is engaged to Webber’s brother, Jack. “Over time we became Wren and Rose and I have never laughed so much in my life. Especially in the midst of this pandemic, it was a huge kernel of joy that lit up our lives.”
Far and wide
Doyle is from Ireland and the wild landscapes and oceans, as seen in some of her solo novels, are here, while Webber, who is from California, made sure there were epic scenes of a horse ride across a desert. “Katherine loves deserts. Orchards and deserts. And I love the sea,” says Doyle. “We brought things from our childhoods to make it feel authentic, despite it being a fantasy world.” “Coming up with the back story for that world was so much fun,” adds Webber. “We had one day when we were like, ‘Let’s think of some legends. Where is this country? What do people believe? What holidays do they have?’ Even if it didn’t all make it into the book, it meant it feels developed and real.”
They also relished exploring the sisters’ different personalities and spinning some tropes on their head. “Wren is very bad-ass, then we have got Rose, who is a bit sheltered and can be spoiled. But she is stronger than she realises.”
When the reader meets Rose, she believes several things—that she must secure an alliance for her kingdom through marriage and that witches are evil—but she shakes off these ideas once she realises that the evil Willem Rathborne is not really the protector she grew up believing him to be. Rather (spoiler alert), he wants to marry her off to the incredibly dull Prince Ansel to get her out of the way, in order for him to then rule the king- dom himself. He also wants to destroy all of the witches in the land. Once Rose accepts the truth, she knows her destiny lies with her sister and stopping Rathborne in his tracks. It is, as Doyle says, the ultimate expression of girl power.
The authors didn’t fight once when writing the book.
Having a really good plan is important, says Webber, and it helped that they each took on a different twin.
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“I have never laughed so much in my life. In the midst of this pandemic, [writing the book] was a huge kernel of joy that lit up our lives”
Catherine Doyle
For the chapters featuring both twins, they sat down together, either at a kitchen table or by working on the same Google Doc, while acting out the scenes at the same time. Webber has writen several books with her husband Kevin, published under their married names of Kevin and Katherine Tsang (the Sam Wu series is published by Farshore, acquired when Farshore was Egmont, and their ongoing series is with Simon & Schuster Children’s), and she cheerfully admits she argued with him a lot more during their co-writing than she did with Doyle. “There are two reasons for that,” she says. “Being married means you are going to argue more, and Kevin and I write in one voice. It’s more intertwined. But it did make me realise I love co-writing and being collaborative. I don’t want to let Cat down.” “What’s special about writing with Katherine is that writing with your best friend is really fun,” says Doyle, for whom co-writing was something new. “Sometimes it feels like work, but sometimes it really doesn’t.” They hope their readers enjoy the book as much as they enjoyed writing it and initial signs are all pointing that way: the manuscript “set the [literary] world on fire” when it went out, says Doyle, and publishers told them they had been waiting for fantasy that had both humour and romance.
The big sell Farshore bought the book in a pre-empt in less than a week and understood the novel’s “heart and soul”, Doyle says. There are some “really exciting” marketing plans, including a travelling throne for bookshops, and Farshore said it wanted to make this book the star of UK YA fantasy, in the same way it made Holly Jackson a star of UK YA thrillers. Further afield, Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins is publishing in the US and in total 13 foreign rights deals have been signed, with auctions taking place in France and Germany. There is also “strong interest” in the film rights, their agent, Claire Wilson at RCW, confirms. “We recognise that is really special,” says Webber. “Sometimes if you are a début you think that’s just what publishing is, but it’s really not. We’re so happy.” They have also had some lovely feedback from readers. Closer to home, Doyle’s father, who isn’t a big reader, tore through all 500 pages in 48 hours. “He called me and said he couldn’t put it down. He was so shocked at himself,” she says. “If we can reel in readers like him, we are on to something.” “Cat and I love writing
Metadata
Kevin & Katie Tsang Dragon City
10,860 units
Imprint Electric Monkey Publication 12.05.22 Format PB (£8.99) ISBN 9780755503643 Rights Sold into 13 territories, including the US (Balzer & Bray) Editor Liz Bankes Agent Claire Wilson
together and we hope the book resonates with the reader,” says Webber. “We have signed up to do two books so far, but we would love to do more. We have a lot of ideas for the world.”
Doyle and Webber’s top titles
45,406 units
Catherine Doyle The Storm Keeper’s Island
36,488 units
Kevin & Katie Tsang Dragon Mountain
19,875 units
Kevin & Katie Tsang Dragon Legend
13,717 units
Catherine Doyle The Lost Tide Warriors
Data: Nielsen UK 49
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