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Image of author Abi Elphinstone at the beach

The first title in Abi Elphinstone’s new series (illustrated by Kristina Kister) Ember Spark and the Thunder of Dragons sweeps readers into a vividly magical world while also deftly illustrating the very significant magic that genuine friendships can foster.

Abi very kindly shared with us how the dynamic Ember and her epic adventures and escapes came to life…

Book called Ember Spark and the Thunder of Dragons held by one hand in front of a bookcase.

The inspiration behind Ember Spark & The Thunder of Dragons

Daughters…

I wish I could regale readers with eccentric tales of how I invented the heroine in Ember Spark & The Thunder of Dragons. Like the poet and critic Dame Edith Sitwell, who used to lie in an open coffin each morning to gather inspiration for her day’s writing. But what actually happened was this: I gave birth to my third child – a little girl – and the inspiration snowballed from there.

My daughter has flame-red, untameable hair (there was a brush once but she hurled it off a cliff). She naps in the dog basket instead of her cot because the puppy is the only member of the family who doesn’t tell her what to do. She hates baths but loves swimming in the ice-cold North Sea. She eats sand. There was only one thing to be done with her, I thought: write her into a story. So, along came ten-year-old Ember Spark: a feisty, flame-haired, animal-loving girl who lives in the sleepy seaside village of Yawn on the east coast of Scotland and – together with a boy called Arno Whisper – becomes an Apprentice Vet To Magical Beasts.

Dwarf Rabbits…

I leant on my own childhood yearnings to build the plot though. As a child, I was obsessed with wanting a pet. First came a goldfish – beautiful to watch, less ideal to cuddle – then came a rabbit. A golden, floppy-eared wonder of a Dwarf rabbit called Doodle, who had free roam of the house – right up until the moment my father found him weeing into his briefcase. I remember, vividly, the sense of importance I felt when I was given a pet to look after. Something smaller than me that needed my help and attention. And I remember the boundless love I felt, too. All of which I hope I’ve channelled into Ember Spark: her delight at finding a little hamster-like creature called Forty Winks on the beach and her excitement at becoming an Apprentice Vet To Magical Beasts.

And Magical Adventures…

My childhood was filled with another sort of yearning as well though: for my parents to stay together. That didn’t happen and I remember, vividly, the panic I felt in the wake of their divorce. My worry that our family would fall apart because my parents wouldn’t be living together. My fear that they would start other families and I’d be left behind. I withdrew from my friends and spent a lot of time shut up in my bedroom feeling miserable. But my friends rallied round me and they took me on all sorts of adventures out in the wilds of Scotland – camping up the glen, biking through forests, jumping into icy lochs. These adventures hauled me out of my misery, made me feel loved and planted in me an indestructible sense of wonder at wild places. In Ember Spark And The Thunder Of Dragons, Ember’s parents have just split up and she, too, has pulled away from her friends. But then along comes Arno Whisper. He’s an unlikely candidate for an adventure (he’d rather be inside making meringues) but as Ember’s teacher, Mrs Rickety-Knees, remarks: ‘adventures are a bit like hiccups; they can happen to anyone at any time.’ I wanted to write a story about the magic that happens when two children find themselves unexpectedly on an adventure together. It’s a magic that says to each child: it’s worth being curious, it’s worth taking risks and it’s worth going the extra mile for your friends. Because as Ember discovers, when life moves in a difficult direction, it’s curiosity, courage and friendship that draw you out of the darkness and fling you back into the light.