It began with the evil eye.
A concept which is so wide-spread across the world, throughout so many cultures—the idea that someone could curse you with bad luck or worse unless you had some sort of talisman of protection against it. And even though I didn’t know it at first, one of my trips down the rabbit hole that is Google to casually research mythology and folklore would spark an idea… an idea that came from a simple scholarly journal article about the belief in the evil eye in Ethiopia. An idea that wouldn’t let me go until I wrote it.
Around the same time, I was also comfort-watching Michael Fassbender be moody in the 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre while pondering why isn’t this house haunted? It had all the right elements to be a great gothic horror—dark manor, seemingly unexplainable occurrences, a master of the house with secrets, and a determined employee staying despite all signs pointing to danger. On top of that, it has one of my favorite romantic tropes, in which two people, seemingly divided by rank and dark secrets, become equals more and more with each match of repartee.
All it needed was a fantasy twist, and Within These Wicked Walls was born.
From that early inspiration came my main character, Andromeda, and her love interest, Magnus. For Andi, her name came to me first—the famous Greek myth of an Ethiopian princess, whose mom couldn’t stop bragging about how beautiful she was and so the god Poseidon (petty as ever) sent a sea monster to destroy their city. Only the payment of Andromeda’s life would save her people, and so she was chained between a rock and a monster to await her fate. Except in my version, the monster would be a cursed house, and Andi isn’t waiting for Perseus to save her. For Magnus, I wanted a Mr. Rochester who was a little more vulnerable, someone who could grate on Andi’s nerves while simultaneously making her feel for him and, ultimately, fall for him. He had to be someone she would want to protect at all costs, even at the risk of death. I’m really happy with their dynamic, and I hope you’ll fall in love with them, too.
But most importantly, the inspiration behind writing this book was the memory of when I was a teen and so badly needed a book like this—a romantic, funny, daring book where young Black people get to laugh and kiss and . . . live. Back then I didn’t know that Black girls could lead instead of follow, could get the guy, could exist in their own world, because none of the books had ever been written for kids like me in mind. I’m so glad this generation gets to read the books I longed for—and am beyond excited that I get the opportunity to write them!
I hope you enjoy Within These Wicked Walls. Here’s to many more books about Black girls kicking butt!
