Aurora Grace
As a child, stories entranced me. My happiest moments were spent lost in the pages of a novel. I didn’t understand how people could find history class boring. To me it was like reading a soap opera for homework. I read everything from mystery to horror to romance and even loved the Little House on the Prairie books. It wasn’t just books either—I devoured every kind of story.
My friends would tease me at slumber parties because while everyone else was doing those favorite 1980’s slumber party pastimes of Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board, prank calling radio stations, and playing with Ouija Boards, I had my nose stuck in a magazine. I loved hearing people’s life stories, recording and collecting many of my grandparents’ stories about growing up in the early 1900’s, surviving the Great Depression, and World War II. I became keen observer of humanity and would invent alternative endings to nearly every scenario I observed. I was never bored, and my brain was bursting with ideas.
I was raised in an intensely religious home, steeped in Scripture from the time I could read. When I left at nineteen, I sought a relationship with God that belonged uniquely to me, and my spiritual world widened in ways I hadn’t imagined. I’ve come to see the world as a place shimmering with wonder—where, no matter how small we feel, we can rewrite the rules of possibility in our lives. Our ordinary days hold far more meaning and magic than we give them credit for. Persian mythology and the unorthodox mystic branches of modern monotheistic traditions captivate me and inspire the quiet strand of enchantment I weave into every story I tell.
My love of stories led me to an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Composition before I veered into a STEM degree for my master’s. But no matter where my career took me, I never stopped writing. I began Elizabeth James’s story when I was still an undergrad in the late 1990’s and just kept adding to it, changing it, and fiddling with it for years. I occasionally sent a query to a publishing house or an agent, but after twenty years and only seven queries, it was clear I was more invested in writing than publishing. Until 2022.
In December of 2022, I was diagnosed with cancer. This led to numerous major surgeries, a month in the ICU, and nearly eighteen months spent mostly bed-bound. That experience nearly killed me, but it also saved my life. It stripped everything down to what mattered most, and storytelling rose quickly to the surface. It was then that I got serious and completed the Elizabeth James trilogy and one other standalone. With a solid lineup of books, it was finally time to begin sharing them with the world.
Elizabeth’s story is the beginning, but I have so many more to tell you…I love strong, big-hearted female characters with a little sass and a lot of courage. Her story is deeply inspired by own and by the strong, sassy women who have loved and supported me throughout my life. I hope you enjoy getting to know these characters as much as I did.
XO
A.G.
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No noise. Just stories worth opening.