Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: Claris Lam is a prolific Chinese Canadian indie author & poet. We’re never certain what she’ll have crafted next time we talk to her, but we’re always excited to find out! This time she’s going to tell us about her children’s book Sadie Rowe And The Missing Necklace. Claris, take it away!

Claris: After losing her grandma’s necklace, Sadie must work together with a fairy named Pearl in order to find it. But can Sadie learn to trust Pearl as they continue working together, or will her doubts about others keep them from finding the necklace at all?

Zilla: What inspired you to write this book?

Claris: Reading Gwyneth Rees’ Fairy Dust book series and Daisy Meadows’ Rainbow Magic book series were major inspirations for writing this book! 

Zilla: What about them inspired you?

Claris: The illustrations from Gwyneth Rees’ Fairy Dust book series really helped inspire me! They’re quite detailed for a kids’ chapter book, and I wanted to bring that same level of detail to Sadie Rowe And The Missing Necklace.

I am grateful and fortunate that I had the opportunity to work with artist Lora Elezovic for Sadie Rowe. She did a fantastic job designing and illustrating the book’s illustrations and cover while keeping the original inspiration in mind! 

Zilla: What drives you to write?

Claris: What drives me to write is to create some hopeful stories. It’s so easy to find so many stories that lack hope, that are dystopias with tragic endings. So, my hope is that by writing more hopeful and/or optimistic works, it’ll help balance out what’s out there to read! 

Zilla: What’s your next writing project?

Claris: I’m currently writing a cozy fantasy novel…Or I might be completely done writing the final version of it by the time of this interview being published, who knows!? I write quite quickly, so that helps!  

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Claris: Check out Sadie Rowe And The Missing Necklace here. Find all links to my socials here.