Atmospheric, thrilling and crackling with magic, Fire Dreamer continues the epic Iron Age story of Tegen, a girl whose world is depending on her, that began in the hugely admired Star Dancer.
Tegen, headstrong druid-in-training, has struck out alone - but the world beyond her village is a dangerous place. When Tegen meets a sensible young druid he seems the perfect guide. But Owein's dark past is chasing him and he brings Tegen into the orbit of a deadly new enemy.
From her childhood Beth had an interest in reading and writing. However she only started writing seriously when she moved abroad, she would write stories for her friends and found she had a passion for writing.
She has been influenced greatly by authors such as C S Lewis, Susan Cooper and Alan Garner but her biggest inspiration was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Tanglewood Tales.’ Her favorite topic to write about is myths and legends and she found that these authors helped fuel that interest.
Her latest book Star Dancer comes out in September 2006. She got the first idea of the story when she was a student. A woman mentioned to her the irony that people who have talents are unable to express them, due to disability or their sex. So the story of the Star Dancer grew, inspired by her work on books for adults with learning disabilities. She had her first character Tegen who emerged from the first draft she created Griff after her work with disabled adults. Beth enjoyed writing Star Dancer because it gave her the opportunity to research about different periods in history. Star Dancer is loosely set in the Iron Age – Roman times and she liked learning about the lives of the people and it gave her the chance to work with myths and legends. She described writing the book as ‘makes me feel like a kid in a chocolate factory. Beth admires the work schools are doing nowadays to help children with disabilities have a relatively normal childhood and get help to develop their talents and express their interests.
