King’s Queen has been out for a week, now, so I’m going to continue the Magiford fun today with a character profile for Ms. Booker!
Ms. Booker is definitely the most mysterious bookstore owner in all of Magiford, and today I’m going to let you in on all her secrets (ok only a few of them, but I think you’ll still find this interesting). Important: character profile posts do contain spoilers! If you haven’t read the Gate of Myth and Power trilogy, I suggest you wait to read all character profiles until you finish!
Ms. Booker
In a rare twist, I came up with the idea for Ms. Booker after I mapped out what I wanted Book Nookery to be/act like. I knew I needed a night job for Chloe for various timeline problems to work out, and there was something so cozy about the idea of a 24 hour book store. (Probably because I know a 24 hour brick and mortar book store wouldn’t be able to survive without the patronage of night clientele like vampires!)
I wasn’t originally planning for the bookstore to have a hidden sort of magic of it’s own, but my inner book lover got the best of me, and I decided I needed to make Book Nookery a place of power. But after realizing that, I knew the owner of the store would also need to have a certain kind of confidence to be able to survive–independently–in a supernatural hot spot like Magiford. Thus, Ms. Booker’s character stepped into being, her every gesture and action covered with elegance and underlining the deep power that comes with owning a place like Book Nookery.
Outwardly, Ms. Booker might appear to be stiff and stern given her firm requirement that Chloe and the other Book Nookery staff members use their best manners. In reality, she’s very generous as most of her staff members are like Chloe and are outsiders in one way or another, making Book Nookery a safe place for them.
I also designed Ms. Booker to be a Hecate-like character as an ode to the original Hades and Persephone myth, making her role a cross of mentor/companion. She’s a great foil for Pat and Joy as she never pushes Chloe into anything. Rather, she helps only when Chloe asks, and while she’s invested in her employees she doesn’t pry into Chloe’s life. (As a character, she believes heavily in self-responsibility. While she will protect Chloe and even endanger herself, she expects Chloe to make decisions for herself.)
As the caretaker of Book Nookery–a mysterious but wonderful place–it’s only fair that Ms. Booker is equally as mysterious and wonderful. We know she has a more extensive knowledge of elves than the average supernatural–including owning several books that are probably among the last of their kind. We also know that she founded Book Nookery, which has some magic even though it isn’t a Wizard House, and that she is a wizard. She also has a good sense of business–as testified by Chloe’s correct assumption that Ms. Booker would make a special elf display to maximize profits when the elves were revealed to humans–and we can see from her interaction with Lord Linus that she’s aware of things like fae trickery and has a better understanding of supernatural politics than the average wizard.
I’m hoping to further explore Ms. Booker’s character, and the magic of Book Nookery in a future Magiford trilogy, so this isn’t the last we’ve seen of her or the 24 hour bookstore!
Until next time, Champions, thanks for reading!
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