The Nerd Daily recently had the chance to talk to Juno Dawson, bestselling author of books such as This Book Is Gay, Clean and Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. With the awaited release of the sequel The Shadow Cabinet, we of course had some burning questions about witches, sisterhood, and so much more!
Thank you for chatting with us, Juno! Tell our readers a bit about yourself and how 2023 has treated you so far!
Thanks for having me! It’s been an insanely busy year – juggling finishing THE SHADOW CABINET with film and TV projects has kept me out of trouble. I can’t believe it’s summer already. I’m looking forward to spending the rest of the year finishing the COVEN trilogy.
Now, tell us about The Shadow Cabinet! What can readers expect from the sequel?
Book 1 explored a coven of witches who’ve been friends for over thirty years. When a young transgender witch arrived in need of sanctuary, the friends were torn apart over how to deal with her. Not everyone made it out alive…
At the end of Book 1, an evil witch called Ciara came out of her coma. Twist! On waking up, she’s suffering from amnesia, and knows only to return to the town of Hebden Bridge. The problem is, everyone thinks she’s her twin sister! And Niamh was about to become the coven’s high priestess. The novel builds up towards her coronation – but will she be exposed?
Leonie, meanwhile, is on the hunt of the dashing rebel warlock, Dabney Hale, and ends up unearthing his nefarious scheme.
The Shadow Cabinet builds on Her Majesty’s Royal Coven and delves deeper into topics such as feminism, power imbalances, sisterhood, queer identity and more that we only scratched the surface of in the first novel. What was a challenge you faced while writing the sequel and was there a moment that made your heart soar?
I definitely wanted to expand the world we discovered in Book 1. This time around we explore the world geographically, with Leonie taking a tour of Europe, but also thematically. Book 1 was about division within feminism, whereas this time I wanted to consider misogyny. I knew in a world where women are so powerful, there’d be men who took issue with that. The witches are about to learn witchfinders are still a very present threat.
This trilogy is all about sisterhood and banding together to fight against the injustices of the world. How much of it has been inspired by real life events and what made you want to write this story?
The final piece of the puzzle was transphobia. When I started writing HMRC in 2020 we were in COVID lockdown. I couldn’t believe that bigots still had so much time to spread misinformation and fearmongering about trans people. The phrase ‘witch-hunt’ is grossly overused but in this case it felt very accurate. It felt right to take a coven – a female-only space – and ask what would happen to a young transgender witch in that situation.
Without spoiling too much, was there a favourite scene you wrote for the sequel?
There are a LOT more demons in Book 2. In Book 1 there was a glimpse of demonic invocation, but Ciara is no stranger to possession. This one goes into true horror territory.
If you could create your own coven solely made up of fictional characters, who would you choose?
OK, I’ll take Willow Rosenberg; Wanda Maximoff; Nancy Downs and Marie Laveau.
With just as an emotional ending as the first book in the trilogy, what do you want readers to take away from Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo’s journey?
The trick with this novel is getting you to care about characters who have done absolutely dreadful things. Even if you don’t like them, I hope you understand why Ciara does the things she does. In this book, all the women make some questionable choices, but isn’t that what real life is like?
Can you tease what is in store for readers in the final book in the trilogy?
I hope it’s going to feel really epic. Book 1 started with a country vet looking after her animals, and now we’re dealing with a celestial battle between the forces of good and evil! I want it to feel like Avengers: Endgame!
With Pride Month just around the corner, is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to?
I’m on tour for the whole month! Trans rights! I’m mostly looking forward to going home and seeing my husband and dog!
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
My favourite book of the last few months was a French novel called MY HUSBAND. Very twisted and very chic indeed! Perfect for lazy summer days.
