Book Title: THE FAIRY BARGAINS OF PROSPECT HILL
Character Names: Alaine and Delphine, sisters
- How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Alaine: I had a wonderful childhood—for the most part, I was allowed to run wild around the orchard and the woods. Sometimes Mother squawked about that, when my stockings got holes or my hems got too muddy, but we were, overall, a very happy family.
Delphine: I always wanted to be just like my mother—she was so refined and elegant. I think my favorite memories from childhood are her teaching me to paint and giving me piano lessons.
- What was your greatest talent?
Alaine: I don’t know as I have a talent per se—but I know my land and I know my work. I’m a good farmer not just in the sense that we turn a profit but that I really understand the process.
Delphine: I don’t think I’ve ever really told anyone this, but I am a very good painter. That is, everyone knows I paint and have seen my work and say it’s nice, but I don’t usually claim it’s a talent—but I suppose it is!
- Significant other?
Alaine: I’m married to Jack, a brilliant lawyer and all-around decent fellow.
Delphine: I’m engaged to Pierce Grafton, heir to the Grafton Glassworks.
- Where do you live?
Alaine: Prospect Hill, the most beautiful place in the world.
Delphine: Prospect Hill, where my parents and grandparents lived.
- Do you have any enemies?
Alaine: I don’t like to call him an enemy, as it would give him too much satisfaction, but the current president of the Agricultural Society, Howard Olson, is a tick in human form.
Delphine: Why would I have enemies? I’m nice!
- Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Alaine: One daughter, Emily—we call her Em. As for pets, I have a farm—we have chickens and the farm horses, Barnaby and Bruno.
Delphine: I think I want children someday. As for pets—birds are rather fashionable, perhaps I’ll get a parakeet after I’m married.
- Greatest source of joy?
Alaine: Seeing my trees produce good fruit and watching my daughter grow
Delphine: Seeing a painting come together and watching people enjoy themselves at a party I host.
- What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Alaine: A good long walk in the woods will pull me out of a bad mood faster than anything. On a rainy day, I like to play cards with my grandfather or teach games to my daughter. I like to read—farming magazines and adventure novels!
Delphine: Playing piano or pulling out my sketchbook are favorite pastimes. I like entertaining, so planning or hosting events is fun for me. I like to read—ladies’ magazines and romantic novels!
- What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Alaine: I put my foot in my mouth. A lot. On the one hand, at least I’m honest, but I speak before I really think through how it’s going to sound or make someone else feel.
Delphine: I don’t stand up for myself. On the one hand, at least I’m good at keeping the peace, but I often end up feeling resentful afterward.
- What keeps you awake at night?
Alaine: I worry about the farm. I want to be successful, I want my daughter to inherit it someday, and I don’t want to let down my father and grandfather who came before me. I feel like I’m meant to do this, but what if I can’t?
Delphine: I want to have a life outside my little farming town, but I’m not sure how. I don’t want to let down my mother or disappoint my sister. I feel like I’m meant to do more than this, but what if I can’t?
On Prospect Hill, you can get nearly anything you want from the Fae—if you know how to ask and if you can pay the price.
There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier—a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop.
Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister’s wedding day.
When Delphine confides that her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape him. Small bargains buy them time, but a major one is needed. But the price for true freedom may be more than they’re willing to pay.
Science Fiction Alternate History | Fantasy [Redhook, On Sale: April 11, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780316378475 / eISBN: 9780316378574]
Rowenna Miller is the author of the Unraveled Kingdom trilogy and The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill, as well as short fiction. She is also the cohost of the Hugo-nominated podcast Worldbuilding for Masochists, an English professor, and a fairly handy seamstress. She lives in Indiana with her husband, two daughters, four cats, two goats, and an ever-growing flock of chickens.
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