In early 2020, when the lockdowns began and the pandemic became imminent, just about everyone found a new hobby. "All my writer friends were having trouble writing,” says Margi Preus. “A lot of my friends did other creative things like baking sourdough bread, and painting, and learning to play the ukulele." For Preus, there was also something new on the horizon, but it wasn’t a new hobby – it was a new genre.
Windswept is Preus's first true foray into the world of fantasy. The book was born from a deeper dive into fairytales which was, for Preus, instigated by the pandemic. "In the fairytales, I think I found some comfort," says Preus who grew up being told Norwegian fairytales by her father. One particular story about three girls who aren't allowed outside resonated with Preus - and likely sounds familiar to youth who were kept home from school at any point over the past few years. Windswept is, as Preus says, "an extension of that" story.
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