An interview with Leopold…
Dutch publisher of The Midnight Hour trilogy, May 2021
1. You and Benjamin have created this wonderful trilogy about Emily and her adventures in the Midnight Hour together. Would you please tell us more about your cooperation?
Laura - Benjamin and I are great friends and have enjoyed working together for many years. The world and characters of the Midnight Hour grew from the brilliant imagination of Ben, but a bit of us both goes into creating our magical adventures. We work together to plan each book, then Ben starts writing away and I edit the story as we go. Towards the end of the writing process, I start to illustrate the chapter headers. In fact, I'm illustrating some today for our third book, The Midnight Hunt.
2. Emily finds out that her mother is originally from the Midnight Hour, a pocket dimension of Londen frozen in Victorian times that contains the last remnants of magic in the world. Her father also has an important and very dangerous job there. You can enter the Midnight Hour only at midnight exactly. How did you get the idea of a secret world, only accessible at midnight?
Ben - Well, a long time ago a friend of mine posted a little surprise package through my door at midnight. As well as scaring the life out of me, it also made me think what a great start to a story that would be - who would send midnight post? Why exactly at midnight? What if midnight wasn't just a time, but a place too? These irresistible questions, combined with a lifetime of reading spooky stories, history books, and fairy tales, all jumbled up to create the Midnight Hour.
3. Emily discovers she is a Pooka: she can transform into other forms. Emily learns from her uncle it is your personality that inspires the physical form you will have. If you would be a Pooka, what kind of animal do you think you would be?
Laura - I would love to magically turn into an animal! The Pooka in our stories are inspired by shapeshifting creatures of Celtic folklore. In some Irish fairy tales, they can change into many different animals, but our Pooka of the Midnight Hour have three animal forms: hare, hound, and horse. I'm most like a hound, as I love taking long walks outside, sleeping by the fire, pats on the head, and eating lots of biscuits.
4. Emily is a very original character. At the most frightening situations, she still keeps her wit and her big mouth. She doesn’t hide in a corner to cry but she tells her enemies exactly what she thinks of them. This is very refreshing. Where did you find the inspiration for Emily’s personality? Is she inspired by someone you know? (We would love to meet her!) And have you ever gotten into trouble because of a big mouth, like Emily?
Ben - Oh, my mouth gets me into trouble all the time! Perhaps a bit less of recent years but, like Emily, I just can’t help myself sometimes. I can hear myself saying things that I just shouldn’t. Sadly, not everybody thinks I’m as funny as I do. Emily is a combination of some of the best women in my life - my daughter, and a number of my fierce and brilliant best friends. She’s also the living version of that voice in my head that just can’t help itself. It's much better when it’s Emily doing it rather than me though!
5. In the Midnight Hour, Emily meets lots of magical creatures, some kind, some evil, some breathtaking. A very special character is the Library, a very powerful woman who is, in a certain way, all books and stories ever written. Without (new) stories she can’t exist, she literally needs books to survive. I figure reading is very important to you? Is that the reason you wrote the Midnight-trilogy, to pass on your love for books and reading to children? Would you be able to survive without new books to read?
Laura - I'm the sort of person who can enjoy my favourite things over and over again, without growing tired of them. It's very comforting to revisit stories you know and love. With that in mind, I could probably 'survive' without new books, but I don't think we can thrive without them. We need new stories and new voices behind them, to explore our ever-changing world. I think it's important to wear the shoes of others, whether they're stepping into a magical land, leaving guilty footprints at a crime scene, or simply walking home from school. Each new book, each new pair of shoes, walks a new path to empathy, joy, comfort, escape, understanding, adventure.