This week’s Inheritance Books are from Laura Kenyon author of a shiny new take on the classic fairytales.

Hi Laura, welcome to inheritance books. Pull up a pumpkin. Here, let me change it back into a sofa for you. Sorry about the lump that’s missing. I used a bit to make pumpkin stew. So, tell us a bit about yourself.

 Hi Rhoda. Thanks so much for having me here today. I’m Laura Kenyon, a freelance journalist and brand new author from just outside New York City. My first book, Desperately Ever After, kicks off a series I like to describe as Desperate Housewives meets the Brothers Grimm. It just came out in February, and I’m having a blast finishing up the sequel, which is due out in August.

As a self published author, I can’t describe how wonderful it is to meet total strangers who’ve read my book, befriended the characters, and are now part of the world I created. In many ways, we now share an intimate connection; they understand a huge part of me that those who haven’t read the book do not.

Aside from writing, I love to read (when I get a chance!), hang out with my personal “Prince Charming” (my husband), and play with our dog (a 90-pound silver Labrador who’s earned his cameo).

Which book have you inherited from generations above? Why is it special?

I owe much of my love of story—be it on the page or the silver screen—to my father. As a commuter, he is always in the middle of a book. And if he’s not reading something, he’s talking about the movie adaptation! As a kid, one of my favourite things to do was lug over a chair and explore the bookshelves where all of his conquests eventually wound up. In addition to historical fiction and the latest bestsellers, there were loads of books by the classic masters: Dickens, James, Collins, Joyce, etc. (Before I moved out permanently, I made sure to give them one last perusal—and came out with an extra box of stuff!)

When I was in grammar school, he and my mother gave me a set of books by Charles Dickens and Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Christmas Carol, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess) to get me started down the right literary path. They were special to me because they’re all about the power of imagination (and Christmas!) and how fantasy can come alive right beside reality.

 Which book would you like to leave to future generations? Why? 

While I probably will give the Dickens/Burnett set to my daughter one day, the book I’d most love to leave for future generations is The Giver by Lois Lowry. As you can see by the picture, my copy has been very well loved. (I blame the amputated cover on my brothers.) I’ve read it three times during three very different periods in my life, and it seemed like a completely different book each time around.

From a tale of teenage angst and loneliness, to a condemnation of authority, to a masterpiece about death, life, freedom, and what it means to be human … my experiences up to that point in life brought out different characteristics of the story with each reading. That still amazes me. That, to me, is the mark of a masterpiece.

That sounds like a fascinating book. I can see why you’d want to leave it to your daughter.

Laura, thank you so much for sharing your Inheritance Books with us. All the best with your book and with the next one!

Laura’s book Desperately Ever After is available now. You can find out more about Laura on her website or catch up with her on Facebook or Twitter.

This is part of a tour with Fiction Addiction Book Tours and Laura is giving away a free e-copy of her book to one reader at each tour stop. All you have to do to enter is to ‘like’ Laura on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Easy, right? Go on, what are you waiting for?