Danielle Paige’s new YA novel, Wish of the Wicked (Bloomsbury, Nov. 7), explores the origin of Cinderella’s fairy godmother, Farrow, and her startling motive for whisking Cinderella to the ball: retribution. Farrow is the lone survivor of the Entente, a magic-wielding collective decimated in a crackdown ordered by the queen. Thirsting for revenge, she seeks to punish the queen through her son, the prince. But as Farrow’s feelings shift, she must confront her own insecurities and the human cost of vengeance. The book is the first installment in the Fairy Godmother series. Paige answered questions by email; the exchange has been edited for length and clarity.

Like your Dorothy Must Die series, this book puts a dark spin on a beloved fairy tale. What draws you to these classic stories for creative inspiration?

I think fairy tales are the reason I am a writer. Like so many other children, I fell in love with reading and writing when my parents read fairy tales to me as bedtime stories, and they never left me. I loved the heroines of these stories, but I also was fascinated by the witches, maybe even more so. Seeing these female characters with agency and, in the villains’ case, with magic, was particularly inspiring for me at a time when the other media I was consuming—television, films—did not have strong female leads. Additionally, the themes of most fairy tales are timeless—good versus evil, the search for true love. But in retelling those stories I get to find the nuances in those tales and answer the questions that I always had while reading them: What happened to make the evil queen so vengeful? Is there redemption or happily-ever-after even for the characters who are “evil”?

Who is your ideal reader for Wish of the Wicked?

I started this book with the question: Why did the Fairy Godmother help Cinderella? And I answered that question with some what ifs. What if all the characters we thought were evil in the fairy tale world were once part of the same coven that was persecuted, and they are now bent on revenge? What if the Fairy Godmother was also part of that sect and must decide if she will choose revenge or forgiveness? I hope anyone who loves fairy tales and wants to explore the catalyst for arguably the most popular fairy tale, Cinderella, finds this book. This fairy godmother origin story has been with me for a long time, longer than Dorothy Must Die. So, I am just so happy to finally bring it to the page.

What books had the greatest influence on you as a reader and writer?

Well, obviously, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I must have read dozens of times. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for her boundless imagination. Everything by Dickens for the breadth of his storytelling. The Brontë sisters for their romanticism. And more recently, Gregory Maguire and Marissa Meyer for paving the Yellow Brick Road of retellings and really giving me a sense of permission and freedom in doing so.

What books coming out this fall are you most looking forward to reading?

Meg Cabot’s Enchanted to Meet You. Meg Cabot is a forever favorite and friend, and I cannot wait to see what she does with grown-up witches. And I got an early copy of Don P. Hopper’s True True. This stunning debut is a powerful and timely portrayal of a teenager on the cusp of vengeance or forgiveness.

William Rumelhart is an editorial intern.