Notherland Trilogy

The Notherland Journeys is a trilogy of novels for readers nine to adult. The Notherland books span a number of genres, combining elements of fantasy, history, adventure and speculative fiction. The series revolves around Peggy, a young Everywoman who ages from 14 to17 through the three novels. In each book in the trilogy, Peggy is thrown back into Notherland, the imaginary northern world she first created at the age of seven. She tries to run away from her responsibilities as the Creator, but time and again she rises to the challenge of becoming the hero of her own story.

The seed of The Notherland Journeys was planted some years ago, when I came across a book about “paracosms” or imaginary worlds created by children. I knew right away that I wanted to write a story around this idea, and that it would involve a young person who returns to an imaginary childhood world to save it from extinction. Children instinctively know that it's possible to see a "universe in a grain of sand," in the words of William Blake (who makes a prominent appearance in the second book of the trilogy, The Shining World).

After that initial bolt of inspiration, the story took its own sweet time taking shape. I did lots of daydreaming as a kid – who doesn’t?  But I had never conjured up an entire world inside my own head, and the tough part was having to create one with my adult mind. I threw out an entire early draft – over a hundred pages – when I realized that my imaginary universe looked too much like all the other neo-Arthurian, Lord of the Rings-style fantasy worlds out there. But once I stumbled upon the notion that this world would be inspired by the far north, the ideas began to flow – the landscape, the characters (a talking loon among them), and the central image of the RoryBory or Northern Lights, populated by singing spirits known as Nordlings.

The Songweavers
(Second Story Press, Toronto, 2008)

Has Peggy destroyed the imaginative universe she created?

As a teenager, Peggy has plenty on her mind without having to take care of Notherland, the imaginary world she created as a child. When a chance comes to cut her ties, she takes it, not knowing that by doing so she is destroying the other world. It falls to her old friends — Molly the pirate doll, Gavi the philosopher-loon and Mi the Nordling — to try to set things right again. Mi begins a dangerous journey to the realm of the Songweavers, the source of all creativity in the universe, to bring Notherland back to life. But can Mi succeed without the help of her creator? And will Peggy be able to find her lost love, Jackpine, whom she last saw in the other world? Will she once again step up and become the hero of her own story?

The Songweavers is the final book in the fantasy trilogy that begins with The Nordlings and continues with The Shining World. To read an excerpt: link

To order: link

The Shining World
(Second Story Press, Toronto, 2003)

The Shining World continues the story of Peggy, a teenage girl with the ability to create imaginary worlds. In the second installment of The Notherland Journeys series, Peggy and her companions -- Gavi the philosopher-loon, Molly the pirate doll and a mysterious young man named Jackpine - set out in search of the missing sky-spirit Mi. On their journey they pass through a series of dream-worlds, where they encounter some larger-than-life figures, including the Pirate Queen Grania and the poet William Blake, and finally descend into a nether region called the FarNear, where Peggy catches a glimpse of the mythical Shining World.

Writing in Canadian Children's Literature, Professor Hilary Turner says The Shining World has an "expansive imaginative canvas" and applauds the "sophistication of its moral vision." "Like all good imaginary worlds, Notherland is both familiar and strange... The historical settings are well-researched and vivid."

To order: link

The Nordlings
(Second Story Press, Toronto, 1999)
 
Peggy is a headstrong teenager who finds herself transported back to a long-forgotten fantasy world she created as a child - a Northern landscape populated by fairy-like beings called Nordlings and other remarkable creatures, as well as the ghost of the nineteenth century explorer Sir John Franklin. Peggy discovers that an evil force is trying to destroy her imaginary world. As the Creator, she has a decision to make: Should she take on the dangerous quest to try and save it, or return to the safety of her everyday life? A girl-hero story that, in the words of one reviewer, "....stands shoulder-to-shoulder with J.K. Rowling's world of spells, monsters and heroic quests....Peggy, like Harry Potter, learns the importance of having good friends when working to defeat the forces of evil."

To order: link