Caroline Stevermer
(1955- )
Caroline Stevermer grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. After high school, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree in the history of art. She knew she wanted to be a writer when she was eight years old. She began by writing stories in her school notebooks. (They were not good. Many were not even finished. She persisted.) By the time she graduated from college, she knew she would need to earn money in other ways, but she kept on writing. Her first professional sale was published by Ace in 1980. In the years since, she has had a variety of jobs and kept on writing. She likes libraries and museums. Her favorite painter is Nicholas Hilliard. Her favorite writer is Mark Twain. She lives in Minnesota. Here’s
Caroline Stevermer’s website.
Sorcery and Cecelia (The Enchanted Chocolate Pot) by Patricia C. Wrede
To best understand Sorcery and Cecelia one has to first flick to the back of the book in order to read the authors' afterword in which they explain the format and history of their story. After hearing of a game called "The Letter Game," Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer decided to have a go — each took on the persona of two young women in a more magically flavoured 1800's, and wrote to each other concerning their activities. Patricia Wrede plays the role of Cecelia Rushton, living in the country and somewhat envious of her cousin Kate Talgarth (Caroline Stevermer) who is being presented to Society in London. And so the correspondence began, each woman drawing on the magical angle of their created world as well as a 'Jane Austen' flavour, so tell each other of the gradually more... Read More
The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede
We last saw the cousins Cecelia and Kate at the conclusion of Sorcery and Cecelia:The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, in which they had foiled a devious plot and found true love with their new husbands, Thomas Schofield and James Tartleton. The story was unique because it was told in the format of letters between the two cousins, each one telling the other about their separate adventures; and as they did with their previous collaboration, the authors Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer each take a character (Wrede is Cecelia; Stevermer is Kate) and write to one another, each one adding aspects to the story till they join up at its conclusion. Things are a little different this time around considering the authors write in the format of a journal and a testimony, instead of letters.
The Kate and Cecelia stories (... Read More
Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stevermer
Set in the same world as Sorcery and Cecilia — also known by the delightful title of The Enchanted Chocolate Pot — this new book called Magic Below Stairs follows the adventures of one Frederick, an intelligent orphan boy chosen to be a footman in Lord Schofield’s house — yes, Kate and her dashing Lord Schofield are minor characters in this adventure — because he fits the livery from the previous servant who was sent away without references.
From that unassuming start, Frederick quickly rises in the household, even being allowed above stairs, because of his quick wit, hard work, and skill at folding a cravat that is simultaneously stylish and allows the wearer to breathe and turn his head from side to side — a rare skill indeed. Frederick is grateful for his new position, but when the brownie Billy Bly... Read More
More fantasy novels by Caroline Stevermer
The Galazon Cycle — (1994-2004) Young adult. When the King Comes Home is set in the same world as A College of Magics and A Scholar of Magics and can be considered a prequel, but it can also stand alone. Publisher: Teenager Faris Nallaneen is the heir to the small northern dukedom of Galazon. Too young still to claim her title, her despotic Uncle Brinker has ruled in her place. Now he demands she be sent to Greenlaw College. For her benefit he insists. To keep me out of the way, more like it!But Greenlaw is not just any school-as Faris and her new best friend Jane discover. At Greenlaw students major in… magic. But it’s not all fun and games. When Faris makes an enemy of classmate Menary of Aravill, life could get downright… deadly.
Stand-alone novels:
The Serpent’s Egg — (1988) Young adult. Caroline Stevermer’s first published novel. Publisher: The conspirators gathered… from all walks of life. the soldier, the gambler, the minstrel, the scholar. The Queen’s own waiting woman. The Queen’s own son. They gathered to prove the treachery of a duke who wanted the kingdom for his own. But the duke had the trust of the queen. And the sorcery of The Serpent’s Egg.
When the King Comes Home — (2000) Young adult. Publisher: Two hundred years after the death of the beloved King Julian IV of Aravis, ambitious young artist Hail Rosmer encounters a mysterious, shabby man who looks exactly like the dead king, an enigmatic man who leads Hail on a perilous magical quest that could fulfill a legend and change Hail’s world forever.
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