Author Interview with Kayleigh Kavanagh, Author of ONE FOOT IN THE ETHER: WHISPERS OF THE PENDLE WITCHES #authorinterview

Today we are interviewing Kayleigh Kavanagh, author of the historical paranormal fantasy, One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches. 

Kayleigh Kavanagh is a disabled writer from the North-West of England. Growing up in the area, she learnt a lot about the Pendle Witches and launched her debut novel around their life story. Her main writing genres are fantasy and romance, but she loves stories in all formats and genres. Kayleigh hopes to one day be able to share the many ideas dancing around in her head with the world.

Her latest book is the historical fantasy, One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches. 

You can visit her on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads and Tiktok. 

 

Interview

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path (becoming an author)?

I’ve always been obsessed with stories: how people relate to them, how they can change people’s hearts, how they can be used to entertain as well as educate and inform. Humans are naturally drawn to them, whatever format they take. Writing novels was a natural progression from curiosity. 

Becoming an author was less of a conscious choice and the best way for me to tell the stories trapped within my mind. 

Your latest book, One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches, can be described as two descendants who must come together to protect the ones they love from an ancient evil, all whilst balancing their lives and the cruelties of being a woman in a man’s world. How did you come up with this idea?

I wanted to write a sequel to the first book, “Whispers of the Pendle Witches,” but I didn’t want to just cover the trials, as I thought the ending of the first book was better and more empowering than what happened in reality. 

I love the idea of reincarnation, and those with strong psychic gifts often claim to remember snapshots of previous lives. At first, I was going to have Demdike reincarnate in the modern day, but then I realised there was a span of time between this, where others could have reincarnated. The next idea was to have the books set exactly two hundred years apart, but this was pushed aside when I learnt more about 1800s England. 

The end of the first book ends with Demdike, Chattox, and Alizon casting spells, and I wanted to follow this thread. It developed into a story where Demdike and Chattox’s spell had unintended consequences, trapping them as spirits bound to their bloodlines, while Alizon’s actions (which they were unaware of) added another layer of issues. 

The rest developed naturally as I learnt more about the time period. There are people in the modern world trying to pull us back to these past times, where women had so few rights, and I know for a fact that even back then, there were strong women fighting against these unfair standards. I wanted it to show how women are strong, no matter the circumstances, and hopefully, it will help empower others to keep going even in these uncertain times. 

 

Can you tell us more about the main character in your book? 

Demdike was the main character in the first book; however, she’s dead in this one, so the spotlight had to be shared equally between the two living descendants, Yana and Claire.

Yana is 14, naive and about to begin her marriage interviews. 

Claire is a midwife in her mid-30s. She has become jaded by the state of the world, but keeps fighting regardless. 

They’re both reincarnations of characters in the first book, and as they discover this, it inevitably changes and shapes them in this new life.

They’re both strong and flawed in their own ways. 

Who are the other main characters? 

Demdike and Chattox. The two dead witches are bound to their bloodlines from a spell gone wrong. They’re trained cunning folk, the UK equivalent of shamanic healers, who stand between the evils in the ether and the physical world.

What is the very first line of your book?

She hadn’t known what to expect from death.

What is the main reason people should read your book?

The world is filled with pain and people trying to convince you that you’re less and insignificant. I hope my book shows people how, even in impossible situations, you have power. You aren’t weak, and you aren’t alone. History likes to repeat itself, or as Demdike says, “History does so love a pattern.” Things come around again; if you’re in the bad right now, remember, the good will return.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could  start a movement that would bring the most amount  of good to the most amount of people, what would  that be? 

One of love and acceptance. All this division, black-and-white thinking, and hate is historically what happens before people turn on one another and empires fall. If I could, I’d show people how much better as a species we can be when we show love and acceptance and how much (historically) we’ve advanced during these points in the past. 

Naturally, this would particularly extend to women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ issues, and protecting the disabled and vulnerable members of our world. 

“Protecting people and the planet” would probably be my tagline. 

About the Book

Demdike and Chattox, famed witches of Pendle Forest, might be dead, but they’re not gone. Bound to their bloodline, they’ve spent the past two and a half centuries watching over their descendants, waiting for when they’ll be needed. 

When 14 year old Yana comes into her psychic abilities and inherits the ‘eyes of the Chattox family’, she can see the long-dead witches, as well as an encroaching evil. But even with this foreknowledge, she’s trapped by marriage interviews and being unable to see her own future, and more importantly, whoever her future husband will be. 

Demdike’s healing gifts are alive and working in Claire, a mid-30s midwife well renowned for her skills and holding her tongue. The Secrets of Pendle are safe with her and her midwives. However, when surgeons looking to make standardisation the norm encroach on her territory, she soon realises how, even a respected woman is vulnerable in a patriarchal system. 

The two descendants must come together to protect the ones they love from an ancient evil, all whilst balancing their lives and the cruelties of being a woman in a man’s world. Set in late 1800s NW England, this book has all the elements of the area: strong, hardy people, atmospheric horror and days as unpredictable as the weather.  

One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches is available at Amazon.

Author Interview with Emily Astillberry, Author of THE ESSENCE OF BLISS #authorinterview

Today we are interviewing Emily Astillberry, author of the speculative fiction/romance, 

Emily Astillberry is an author and RSPCA Inspector from Norfolk, England. She has a degree in English Literature and Linguistics from York University and has been investigating animal cruelty and neglect and rescuing sick and injured animals for 20 years. In her day job, Emily deals with very difficult and often emotional situations and meets all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Her career provides some of the inspiration for themes and characters that can be found in her fictional work.

At home, in a very old cottage in the country, Emily has a husband, 5 children, a dog, a cat, an axolotl, 2 giant African land snails and a varying number of rescue hens, so finding time to write can be a challenge. She is happiest outdoors, growing fruit and vegetables in the garden, walking the dog and family holidays usually involve walking up mountains in summer, skiing down them in winter and sleeping in a tent whenever possible.

Emily loves spending time with her large, noisy, chaotic family, cooking meals for friends and playing board games. She always has at least one book on the go and has always dreamed of writing her own novel. She now dreams of writing more.  

You can find her on Facebook and Instagram.

The Essence of Bliss is her latest book.

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path (becoming an author)?

I have always loved books. I read an inordinate amount growing up and was surrounded by novels because my whole family are avid readers. I have a degree in English Literature and took a creative writing course about 20 years ago. I always dreamed of writing. However, at the age of 22, my life took a different turn and I landed the other career of my dreams and became an RSPCA Inspector. I have been rescuing sick and injured animals and investigating complaints of animal cruelty and neglect for the last 20 years and I feel incredibly proud and privileged to be able to do what I do. My passion for literature and stories never faded but I was busy pouring my heart and soul into animal welfare and then falling in love, getting married and starting a family. I now have 5 children, a collection of rescued animals and a dilapidated 250 year old cottage to prop up. My life is chaotic but I never forgot about my dream to write. I spent many years waiting for the right time to start my novel but the right time never came. I continued to read passionately and a few years ago, I found that I was getting frustrated. Every book that moved me, inspired me to write, to see if I could similarly move other people and every book that disappointed me, inspired me to get out there and see if I could produce something better, so in the end, I stopped waiting for the right time and just got on with it.  

 

Your latest book, The Essence of Bliss, is about a woman, Isabel Bliss, who experiences other people’s emotions and can influence how they feel but she doesn’t truly understand her gift and has been encouraged to hide it from others. How did you come up with this very unique idea (wish I had thought of it!)?

I was always going to write something emotional. The power and depth of human emotions and connections is unfathomable and it is the relationships between people that I believe really makes a good novel, great. I wanted to set my novel in the real world, enhanced by a subtle magic, otherworldly enough to offer escapism and yet relatable to my audience. I wanted to create a concept that was fresh and almost believable. I wanted my readers to wonder, to come away asking what if? 

There are 12 years between my youngest and oldest children but a theme that always seemed to successfully span the gaps was that of superheroes and superpowers. We would often find ourselves embroiled in in-depth discussions about the best and worst heroes and villains and their relative powers. I still regularly debate with my youngest about what super power we would have if we could choose, and how we would use them to improve our own lives and the lives of others. This got me thinking and ultimately shaped my concept. Isabel’s super power is a little more

subtle than super speed, spidey senses or x-ray vision and she doesn’t wear a cape or have an alter ego, but she does have an unseen influence over others and she wants to use that power for good. 

 

Can you tell us more about the main character of your book? 

Isabel Bliss is a reception class teacher in her late twenties. She is an ordinary woman with an extraordinary sensitivity to the emotions of the people around her. Isabel feels other people’s emotions as if they were her own, sometimes to an unsettling or even crippling degree. She also has the power to manipulate the emotions of others but has never understood or learned to harness her gift. Having been encouraged to keep her ability to herself, she has never spoken of it  to anyone except her mum, but when she helps a young boy in her class who is experiencing unspeakable suffering, and, in another thread, meets a kindred spirit, Isabel begins to realise the potential of her gift.

 

Who are the other main characters?

Isabel begins the story in a long-term relationship with childhood sweetheart, Jack, parents, Beth and Max, and a younger sister, Stephanie. She also has a best friend called Donna. Isabel’s family are very close. Beth is eccentric and complicated but Isabel has always felt loved. 

As the story progresses, a new family moves to town. The Callahans take up residency in the Big House at the top of the hill and the family consists of Nicholas, an extremely successful barrister with an incredible professional record, his beautiful wife Georgina and their two sons, Scott and Daniel. On first meeting, Isabel has a profound reaction to the sons, recoiling from one and being inexorably drawn to the other. 

What is the very first line of your book?

It began with mild agitation, a vague feeling of unease, which quickly shifted to anger and within seconds, the placid, even temper of a six year old had been transformed into outright fury, a rage so intense that it had no business taking hold of a child. 

What's the main reason someone should read your book?

Someone should really read The Essence of Bliss if they want to be transported on an empowering, emotional journey, full of complex characters and relationships. It offers a balance between magic and reality, enchantment and a deeply personal narrative and empathetic heroine, and yet it is infused with a fresh, chilling twist, which challenges the very concepts of chance, choice and destiny. 

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? 

Ha, I think you’ve got me confused with somebody else!

It seems only fitting that my movement stays on topic, the topic essentially being emotional prosperity. As a parent, I have noticed that our society sets great store on academic achievement, our ability to retain information and our potential to generate wealth. When a report is sent home, our children are graded on their grasp and presentation of knowledge in English, maths, reading, science etc. but the really important things, the aspects of a child that will make them a good human, are sadly overlooked. A good human child might be kind and considerate, positive, sociable, a joy to be around and the sort of person who always engenders happiness in others. If these were the attributes that we valued above and beyond their grasp of the seven times table, I honestly believe that the world would be a better place. We should be teaching our children, and letting them teach us, how to be good humans, how to instill joy and laughter, how to love and cherish one another and how to avoid hurting the people close to us and the people far away. My movement would be about appreciating, teaching and learning how to live happily alongside all others, recognising and celebrating differences but cherishing similarities and the qualities that give all humans, incredible potential. It is the children who achieve A* grades in positivity, fairness, love and humanity who should be lauded above others and who should go on to lead countries, continents and the world.

About the Book

Isabel Bliss is a reception class teacher. She experiences other people’s emotions and can influence how they feel but she doesn’t truly understand her gift and has been encouraged, by her mum, to hide it from others. She often feels lost and alone. 

When a child in her class experiences chronic distress that only she can perceive, Isabel uses her ability to relieve his suffering, but his situation continues to worsen. Eventually she is forced to take matters into her own hands, escorting him home where she finds horrific signs of abuse. She saves his mum’s life and his father is arrested for the brutal torture he has inflicted upon his family. 

A wealthy family moves to town and Isabel meets the two sons. She recoils from Daniel, who is hateful, rude and emotionally deficient but is inexorably drawn to Scott, who awakens something magical, deep inside her. They are like her. They are fluencers and have the ability to sense, read and willfully manipulate emotional energies. Isabel confronts her mum and uncovers hurtful lies and deceit within her own family. 

She falls deeply in love and ultimately discovers the untold potential of her gift and the passion and power that dwells within.

Read a sample here.

The Essence of Bliss is available at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Here’s What Readers Have to Say About The Essence of Bliss!

  5.0 out of 5 stars – Blissful Reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2025

Beautifully written book; so eloquent and descriptive: felt every emotion and lived in every scenario. So absorbing . Cannot wait for sequel. Thank you Emily for pleasure your novel gave me.

  5.0 out of 5 stars – A beautifully crafted love story with a subtle, enchanting twist

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 22, 2025

Though fantasy isn’t my usual genre, the delicate infusion of magic enhances rather than overwhelms the heartfelt romance. The characters feel real, their love story rich with longing, mystery and fate. Every page draws you deeper into a world that feels both familiar and otherworldly. A captivating read and I cannot wait for the sequel as I’m desperate to find out what is next in store for Isabel Bliss. I would highly recommended The Essence of Bliss for romantics and dreamers alike.