One of my prepublication readers really liked my novels that included boarding schools and school.  I used them as settings for Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si, and for Children of Light and Darkness an Ancient Light novel.  What I devised was the idea of a girl who had snuck into a boarding school.  I needed a means for her to stay hidden while in the school and a reason for it.  The reason was simply because she wanted an education.  The means was that she was the unfortunate result of the union of an Unseelie Faery and a mortal.  She uses fae magic, if you like, to remain hidden.  I also needed a foil, a girl who could see through her fae glamour and might possibly reveal her secrets.  That was the beginning of inspiration for Deirdre.  The research was a little more complex than some of my writing--I set the novel in the 1990s and Wycombe Abbey, an elite girl's boarding school.  To make this historically correct took a large amount of research.       

The Question: 

Deirdre asks some unique questions:  What happens when you have supernatural girls in a boarding school?  What is the nature of magic and miracles in the real world?  What if the British government knew about such people in the world, and what would it do to help and recruit them?       

The Characters: 

The major characters in Deirdre  are Sorcha, a girl who has snuck into Wycombe Abbey and remains hidden there through the use of glamour (protagonist's helper), Deidre, a girl who can see through fae glamour and holds Sorcha's secrets (protagonist), Luna, an unusual teacher at the school and somewhat related to Deidre.  I also bring in Mariread Rowley.  She is a character from a couple of my other novels.  This novel explains some of her origins and events in her life.

The Theme: 

Sorcha, the abandoned child of an Unseelie and a human, secretly attends Wycombe Abbey girls’ school where she meets the problem child Deirdre and is redeemed.  

The Concept of the Work: 

The concept behind Deirdre is to reveal friendship and trust bound by secrets and learning between two opposing personalities.  The protagonist is a unique and unusual person who hasn’t lived much of a real childhood.  She is paired with a girl who has lived nothing but through hard knocks and suffering.

Teaser:

Sorcha Weir’s secret is discovered by Deirdre Calloway—Sorcha is clandestinely attending Wycombe Abbey boarding school.    

When two problem girls, both with supernatural abilities, come together at Wycombe Abbey boarding school, the sparks are about to fly.