The Orphan Witch is the debut novel from Paige Crutcher, former Southern correspondent for Publishers Weekly. Crutcher extensively researched witchcraft to create this story of powerful and fierce female witches, inspired while pregnant, to create a (perhaps) unconventional bedtime story for her daughter.
Hi, Paige! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m a fiction writer who lives in the Georgia countryside, where I spend most of my time chasing my small children through the hiking trails behind my home, and helping them look for portals to other worlds. I’m a certified yoga instructor, an enthusiastic (and only adequately skilled) painter, who is am most happy when in the midst of an adventure.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I was pretty young when I realized writing could be a superpower. Once I did, I was completely smitten with the art of writing. I have always loved stories and how easy it is to discover different parts of myself by reading (or watching) them, but as a child I struggled with how to tell them. Writing taught me how to sort my thoughts and ideas, and enabled me to take my time finding the right words. From there, I fell into writing poetry, and then eventually telling stories on the page. The more I wrote, the easier it was to find my way, and the more at home I felt in myself and in the world.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Anne Rice’s Memnoch the Devil. When I was thirteen years old, my childhood best friend loaned me a copy. I’d been a voracious reader beforehand, but that was the first book where I felt like I lived inside the pages of a novel. Didn’t want to put it down for a second. Had to keep doing so to research certain subjects and references. It was so transformative, seeing what she did with language and history and story. It also lead me to her catalog of work, and those stories greatly challenged and inspired and entertained me.
Your debut novel, The Orphan Witch, is out September 28th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
A lonely witch saves herself.
What can readers expect?
The Orphan Witch is about a lonely witch named Persephone who has never belonged anywhere, and who has magical abilities she doesn’t understand. On an island off the coast of North Carolina, she finds family and love, a curse, a library housing lost magical objects, and a mysterious librarian. This is a story about magic, sisterhood, found family, and discovering the place you belong.
Where did the inspiration for The Orphan Witch come from?
It was born from my love of stories about magic, and witches, and powerful women. I wrote it while pregnant with my daughter, and so in many ways it’s a (perhaps) unconventional bedtime story for her.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
The inner critic is a constant monster in my mind, trying to lure me away from the page by taunting me that I am not capable enough to write the story I’m writing. I would quiet it by researching (research always brings me joy and joy gives me strength), by talking to writer friends who helped me work out plot points and untangle threads, and by acknowledging my fear. The fear is real, and it wholly sucks, but I won’t let it stop me. I keep writing forward, one word at a time.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved them all, so it’s hard to choose! Feels a bit like picking a favorite child. They each proved challenging in one way or another, but I can say I was most giddy when I was in the scenes with Dorian and Persephone. I am a sucker for romance.
What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
Long and bumpy and beautiful and fun and exhausting. I wrote my first novel thirteen years ago. I had an agent, but the story didn’t sell. I went on to work as a journalist, to interview authors for online publications, intern with a literary agent, write and edit for clients, and all the while, I kept writing novels and working on my craft. Then, I finished THE ORPHAN WITCH, and got incredibly lucky to work with my brilliant agent, Ashley Blake, and my utterly phenomenal editor Monique Patterson, and the fabulous team at SMP.
What’s next for you?
I just turned in my second novel to my (amazing) editor. It’s a novel of found family and sisterhood, about what happens when one witch is out of her proper time, displaced from her memories, and there’s a good bit of romance woven in too.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
My current reads are Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne, The House of the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Kline, The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary, and The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton.
I’d also recommend: Helen Ellis’ Take Your Bags & Don’t Pack Light, Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon, The Stranger Inside by Laura Benedict, Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison, Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan Henry, and Don’t Overthink it by Anne Bogel.
