Goodreads asked Britain Kalai Soderquist:

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

Britain Kalai Soderquist I love fairytale retellings, but sometimes I feel like there are plot holes that need filling. For "Glass Roses," I was thinking about the Cinderella story one day and started asking questions: how does the daughter of a wealthy land owner just vanish from the social scene of the neighborhood? Why did no one come to check on her when she stopped being seen? If a male uncle/cousin etc. did not show up to claim the estate, it would have passed to Cinderella, because step-families got nothing in the eyes of the law for a long time... so why is she not protected by the family lawyer or steward?

Finding the answers to these questions led me to write a story in which society and etiquette play the role of magic in the fairytale. Historical fiction is my other favorite genre, and the Victorian era seemed to work so well for retelling the tale in a non-magical setting.

The letter aspect of the story was inspired by multiple sources, but specifically "Sorcery and Cecelia" by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, and of course Jane Austen's "Lady Susan." I have always loved diary/letter books, and I couldn't resist using the format to tell two stories in one, and during the golden age of letter-writing. The Victorians were some of the best letter writers out there!

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