Recently, I had the chance to chat with the lovely Natania Barron, the award-winning author of, among other things, the recently published book Netherford Hall!

MR: Hi Natania! Congratulations on your absolutely magical new book, published on August 13. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me—I can’t wait to hear all about Netherford Hall!

NB: Thanks so much for having me.

MR: To start off, can you give us your elevator pitch for readers who may not know your book yet?

NB: The elevator pitch is this: Bridgerton, but queer, with witches! Or, conversely, a sapphic Pride & Prejudice with witches.

MR: What inspired you to write a Regency fantasy?

NB: It’s always been something bubbling in the back of my mind. The fashion, especially of the era, is super inspiring. Plus I’ve always been a massive Jane Austen fan. And, oddly enough, I began this one before Bridgerton ever came across my radar. The timing was just very fortuitous! I’ve always loved the whimsical vibe of the era—which is way more complex than simple aesthetics—but adding magic to it felt absolutely right.

MR: What is something that you learned by writing this book?

NB: Many things! And probably some I’m still figuring out. More than anything, it’s the value of writing not just what you know, but what you love. For me, this book was really important as someone who’s both queer and neurodivergent. Edith and Poppy’s love story might seem simple and sweet, but it was something I desperately needed to see when I was younger, still figuring myself out in my twenties.

MR: What is something that you hope readers take away from this book?

NB: Queer joy! The struggle of my LGBTQIA+ siblings is absolutely important, and essential, to write about. But so, too, is joy. I wanted to create a world in which love is love, full stop. Edith and Poppy have enough to deal with in their relationship without societal pressure to fit into a mold they were never made for.

MR: You’ve written elsewhere about “queering the Regency.” Can you speak a bit about why it’s so important to portray queer relationships in different time periods and genres?

NB: We have always been here. As a medievalist, fashion historian, and general curious human, it’s immensely healing to read about people who came before us still experiencing the same struggles we do now. Modern concepts of queerness are, indeed, very modern, and in many ways quite strange. In many cultures, across time, people made space for queerfolk. They had stories about them. Gods were queer. Knights were queer. And that’s all that survived—who knows how much more disappeared. There are entire books from the past we know of only by reference, as no copies survive. It’s a phrase that gets repeated in Netherford Hall, actually: “What remains is not all that there was.” Part of it is just normalization; the other part is a very powerful act of showing who can be a hero.

MR: Finally, of particular interest to me and likely nobody else, can you tell me why you chose a Rookwood as your main character? Was it just the name, or does my family’s history in England inform the character herself?

NB: I am a notorious researcher, and one of my favorite things to research are names! I knew this book was going to take place in Kent, so I went through a lot of census data in the 19th century to figure out what families were in the area. And Rookwood was one of them! It was just too perfect for Edith and her family—I’m also a bird lover, and rooks are one of my favorites. It also is a little similar to Dashwood, which is a family in Sense & Sensibility, so that’s always good to have in there. The Pembles, Hodes, Greenstreets, etc., are all taken from the same census records, too.

MR: Thank you again for your time, Natania! Readers, Netherford Hall is out now, and you can order it anywhere books are sold.