ARC Letter

ARC letter

In the Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) my publisher asked me to write a letter to the readers. Here it is.

Dear Reader,

I am both delighted and surprised to offer you another Bayern book. I wrote The Goose Girl as a complete story to itself and didn't plan on a sequel. Except...

Enna. She was such a vital, interesting, talk-to-me-non-stop character that I just had to give her a book of her own. Enna Burning challenged me and changed me, and this time I knew I would not write another Bayern book. Except...

Razo. He popped up in Goose Girl as an unexpected but fully formed minor character. He wasn't a part of my Enna Burning outline but ended up with a major role. Now he was filling my vulnerable little brain with ideas for his own story, which was hard to resist because he was a delightful character to channel. Okay, fine, Razo always gets his way. But River Secrets was absolutely the last book in this series. Except...

The history of Bayern kept on stitching together in my mind. There was still growing to be done, dangers lurking, powers untested. My three girls--Isi, Enna, and Dasha--were poised for an adventure, and Razo's little sister Rin was becoming a character of profound consequences. Okay, one more book, but sorry, Razo, your part is very minor. (Or so I thought. He is persistent!) So here is Forest Born, the final addition to this series. No really, it is. Seriously. I'm serious this time. I swear. (Leave me alone, Razo...)

Keen gratitude for the readers who have embraced these books. Your love and enthusiasm for these characters enabled me to tell four books-worth of their stories. Thank you.

xoxo, Shannon Hale