Check out a Q&A and read an excerpt from The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant (Interview, Excerpt & #Giveaway) @The_FFBC

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Leave a Comment

Welcome to my tour stop! I'm so excited for this book as it totally sounds like my kind of
read! Check out an interview with the author, an excerpt, and enter the giveaway below...

The Court of Miracles

(A Court of Miracles #1)
By Kester Grant
YA Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Retelling
Hardcover, Audiobook & ebook, 416 Pages
June 2nd 2020 by Knopf Children's

Summary

Les Misérables meets Six of Crows in this page-turning adventure as a young thief finds herself going head to head with leaders of Paris's criminal underground in the wake of the French Revolution.

In the violent urban jungle of an alternate 1828 Paris, the French Revolution has failed and the city is divided between merciless royalty and nine underworld criminal guilds, known as the Court of Miracles. Eponine (Nina) Thénardier is a talented cat burglar and member of the Thieves Guild. Nina's life is midnight robberies, avoiding her father's fists, and watching over her naïve adopted sister, Cosette (Ettie). When Ettie attracts the eye of the Tiger--the ruthless lord of the Guild of Flesh--Nina is caught in a desperate race to keep the younger girl safe. Her vow takes her from the city's dark underbelly to the glittering court of Louis XVII. And it also forces Nina to make a terrible choice--protect Ettie and set off a brutal war between the guilds, or forever lose her sister to the Tiger.

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Interview

Hi, thanks for having me!

Thrilled to have you!

Q: Would you tell us a bit more about the main characters?

A: Eponine “Nina” Thenardier, Black Cat of the Thieves Guild is my main character. Years of inner rage at her fridging in Les Mis led to me finally giving her the story I believe she deserved with nary a Marius Pontmercy in sight! I stole Hugo’s canon descriptions of Eponine being literate, and a thief from a criminal household, and her dad being part of a gang of burglars theatrically named the Patron Minette and all having masks etc, and spun it through Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris idea of an organized criminal underworld known as the Miracle Court.

Trying to repair Hugo’s ridiculous lack of any sort of relationship between Eponine and Cosette, who grow up with the violent and abusive Thenardier, I wove the story around these two girls, making them adopted sisters of sorts. Nina’s every action is haunted by her two sisters, Azelma, her blood sister, sold into slavery at the start of the book, and in order to rescue her, Nina gets embroiled with the innocent Cosette “Ettie” and has to keep her safe from their enemies.

I think their arch-nemesis The Tiger – Lord of the Flesh Guild, was born of two things. Firstly Hugo’s original had Thenardier sell child Cosette to an adult male stranger, I wondered what child Eponine would have thought Cosette was being sold for – trafficked essentially. Added to that I asked myself who the most terrifying enemy would be for two young girls existing in a criminal society – the obvious answer is of course a human trafficker. Thus “The Tiger” was born.

There are three potential love interests, firstly the murderous Montparnasse, Hugo’s young handsome knife wielding member of the Patron – I reinvented him a little, stuck him in the Assassins guild and have him meeting Nina for the first time.

Secondly the young god Enjolras – who is basically revolutionary fervor in human form. He is one of my favourites and such fun to write.

And the heir to the throne of France, to give political balance to the cast – we have one member from each social group. and to provide a gentler more hopeful character in the midst of all the extremes.

Q: What’s one of your hobbies or something we might not know about you?

A: I love to draw and one of my greatest ambitions is to be an author-illustrator! I’m working on picture book ideas and a graphic novel at the moment.

Q: When you want to relax with a book, what genre do you pick from and do you have any favorites?

A: Georgette Heyer’s regency romances. I re-read them every 2 years; they are so delightful!

Q: What are you working on next?

A: An epic animal fantasy called Goldenpaw coming out early 2021; for fans of Watership Down, Warriors, Redwall, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, and the Jungle Book. You can find out more here.

Excerpt

About the Author

Kester Grant is a British-Mauritian writer of color. She was born in London, grew up between the UK, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the tropical island paradise of Mauritius. As a wanton nomad she and her husband are unsure which country they currently reside in but they can generally be found surrounded by their fiendish pack of cats and dogs.

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