The Puzzle Ring: Character Interview

It is with great honor that I introduce to you Hannah Rose Brown.

Hannah is the heroine of the upcoming book The Puzzle Ring.

In The Puzzle Ring Hannah moves to a castle and discovers her family is cursed.

With the help of her friends (and a little magic) Hannah sets off to break the curse and possibly change history.

Welcome Hannah!

Thanks so much for visiting with us today.

Q: Would you mind telling us a bit about Wintersloe Castle?

A: It’s the most incredible place! I can’t believe my mum never told me about it. She probably knows I’d have made her take me there much, much earlier. It’s actually not a real castle – it was built in the 19th century – but it LOOKS like one with two towers and battlements and an enormous oak front door. The original Wintersloe Castle is just a ruin in the garden. It wasn’t nearly so pretty. In fact, it was pretty grim in the old days, just sheer walls of stone and lots of murder holes to pour boiling oil down on attackers. I’m rather glad I don’t have to live there!

Q: When did you first start to realize magic was real?

A: Well, I always wanted to believe that magic was real, but it seemed impossible that things like that could happen to an ordinary girl like me. I mean, this is the 21st century! But then I came to Wintersloe Castle, which seemed such a magical place, and all sorts of strange things began to happen. My great-grandmother talked about curses and fairies as if they were real, and then there was Linnet, the old cook, who told me all about how the Otherworld, which touches our own world here and there, at certain times of the year. But it wasn’t until that old toad actually spit out the hag-stone at my feet that I began to realise that magic was real, as natural a part of the world as stone or water or stars or trees. I don’t know if you know about hag-stones – they’re pebbles that have a hole worn through them naturally by wind or water, and when you life them to your eye you can see things that are unseen, and when you lift it to your ear you can hear things that cannot be heard... like the howling of a long-dead dog...

Q: Do you have a crush on Donovan?

A: Of course not! What an embarrassing question. He’s my long-lost cousin, about a thousand times removed. Just because you like someone and want to hang out with them and talk to them about all kinds of stuff you can’t talk about with anyone else doesn’t mean you have a crush on them, does it? He’s not going to read this, is he? Do you think we could cut this question out?

Q: In The Puzzle Ring you move from Australia to Scotland. Do you miss Australia?

A: I miss the sunshine! I never thought I would because I actually hate being hot and I always get sunburnt if I got out in the sun. But it’s cold here in Scotland, and rains quite a bit which I guess is why it’s so lovely and green all the time. It was weird having Christmas here – it snowed! I’d never seen snow before. Normally its boiling on Christmas and we all eat cold prawns and salad and go to the beach. Instead it was pitch-black at four in the afternoon and we ate roast grouse, which is a kind of bird. In Australia, to grouse means to complain!

Q: Will we be seeing you again Hannah in any future novels?

A: Well, Wintersloe Castle is such a magical place that I’m sure other strange things will happen one day ...

Ok now I have a couple of fun questions for you. Ready?

Favorite musician? I love Nina Simone, she has such heartbreak in her voice. I’d like to be able to sing like she does.

Favorite song? Time After Time. It’s amazing when Donovan plays it on his flugelhorn (which is a bit like an old-fashioned trumpet)

Favorite food? Anything Linnet cooks!

Q: Do you have anything you would like to share with my readers?

A: Have you ever heard of Mary, Queen of Scots? I got to meet her. She was so beautiful, like a queen out of a fairytale, and yet her life was so sad. If you are ever lucky enough to go to Edinburgh, which is one of the loveliest and most romantic cities on earth, go and visit her palace at Holyrood and ask them to show you the bloodstains on her floor. They’ve been there for almost four hundred and fifty years and no amount of scrubbing can ever remove them.

Q: At Wintersloe Castle you have an AMAZING magical cook who is always cooking fantastic meals for you. Do you think you could share one of her recipes with us?

MARMALADE CAKE
Recipe Ingredients:

1 cup of self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

4 rounded tablespoons of butter

3 rounded tablespoons of caster sugar

1 teaspoon orange rind, finely grated

2 eggs , beaten

2 tablespoons orange marmalade

2 tablespoons milk

1 drop vanilla essence

Preparation Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, then half the orange rind. Add the beaten eggs, marmalade, milk and vanilla. Mix well to achieve the consistency of a thick batter. Grease a 6 inch round cake tin and bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven at 350F/175C for around 1 hour and 20 minutes until golden brown. If you have one, you can check with a skewer until it comes out clean. Sprinkle the rest of the orange rind on top and allow to sit for a few minutes. Turn out on a wire rack to cool.

Try making it! It’s easy, even I can do it.

Thank you Hannah! I can't wait to tell my readers more about your story.

Make sure to check back February 23rd when I review Hannah's adventure in The Puzzle Ring.