Goodreads asked Victoria Williamson:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Victoria Williamson A book is an adventure, and my first real-life adventures began when I became a teacher. I taught for a number of years in Cameroon, Malawi and China as well as the UK, and during that time I met many children whose unique stories inspired my writing.

The characters in The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle are composed of many voices. Caylin, a troubled twelve-year-old struggling with her mother’s alcohol addiction in a Glasgow council estate, and Reema, a Syrian Muslim refugee whose world has been turned upside down by war, were inspired by some of the children I have taught.

My experiences of working with children from many different backgrounds, particularly those whose families were seeking asylum, made me realize how important it was for me to write inclusive stories where all children can see a reflection of themselves in heroic roles. When the Syrian war began, the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis that followed was overwhelming, and like many other people I felt powerless to do anything about it. It was then that I decided to write a story about a girl whose family have fled the fighting and are trying to build a new life, and little by little Reema’s character began to take shape.

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