We are so excite to be a part of the blog tour for SPELLBOOK OF THE LOST & FOUND by Moïra Fowley-Doyle!  Before we jump into the interview we did with her, I want to tell you about the book!
Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle (Twitter, Goodreads)Also by this author: The Accident Season
Published by RHCP on June 1st 2017
Genres: General, Horror, Love & Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 416
One stormy summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hair clips and jewellery, but soon it’s clear that Rose has lost something bigger; something she won’t talk about.
Then Olive meets three wild, mysterious strangers: Ivy, Hazel and Rowan. Like Rose, they’re mourning losses - and holding tight to secrets.
When they discover the ancient spellbook, full of hand-inked charms to conjure back lost things, they realise it might be their chance to set everything right. Unless it’s leading them towards secrets that were never meant to be found . . .
Describe Spellbook of the Lost and Found in 5 words.
Dreamy, eerie, tangled, magic, weird.
How did Spellbook of the Lost and Found come about, what was your inspiration? What made you think you had to write this story?
I only really realized the story I was writing about halfway through writing it. I don’t tend to start a book with a plan. If I’m honest, I don’t always end (the first draft of) a book with a plan. Some of the time it feels less like I’m writing a story & more like a story’s writing me. Spellbook was a tricky one to write because it started out as a tangle of thoughts and characters & it only really became a story after several drafts. My inspiration for that tangle came from lots of little places – I knew I wanted to write about lost things and findings: the things we lose that are more than just objects and the things we find that we don’t expect.
What was the hardest scene for you to write in Spellbook of the Lost and Found and why?
The scene in which they cast the spell in the storm drain tunnel took a long time to get right. At first I wrote it from the wrong perspective, so while it was eerie and atmospheric, it didn’t carry the emotional weight it needed to as such a pivotal scene. But once I focused fully on what each character wanted & needed to find, & what it was they couldn’t stand to lose, & when I gave that chapter the right voice, it suddenly became powerful.
Can you share (without spoilers) a line or section of Spellbook of the Lost and Found that is your favorite?
Some of my favorite parts of Spellbook are the scenes we spend with Olive’s family. I loved writing their dynamic, their everyday lives, their comfort & humor. It’s not a million miles from my own family, so it was a lot like writing home. But right now the favorite part I can think of is the conversation that Rose & Hazel have in the pub car park the first time they meet. I kind of fell in love with both of them when I wrote that scene.
When you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I like to draw sad-eyed girls with impossible hair & paint watercolour 90s toys. I like to read tarot cards & I like doing yoga. I like talking to the sea (I like it when it talks back occasionally). I like playing outside with my kids. I like reading on the couch with a glass of red wine & I like chatting with my friends over tea.
What are you currently reading?
Right now I’m in the middle of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers & it’s making me think a lot & underline a lot & it’s giving me strange, tangled dreams about stars & black holes.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Write what you love. Fall in love with what you write. If you don’t enjoy reading it, chances are other people won’t either. But if you write with passion, you’re a lot more likely to finish your book, & it’s a lot more likely to be loved by other readers, too.
What’s next for you? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about?
My next book is still at the secretive stage but I’m deep into the first draft & really excited about it. I can’t really talk about what it’s about but it’s got a family curse & a bull and three old witches & the sea & it’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve written yet & also probably the saddest.
Tell us 3 random facts about you.
1: I have 6 tattoos to Hazel’s 3: a wave, a compass stave, an acacia branch, a moon, half a sun & big bouquet of lavender and daisy
2: I have broken 5 bones since I was 17 (my left wrist, my right ankle, my nose & two toes – twice)
3: I wrote my postgrad thesis on YA vampires – specifically a comparison of the Twilight books and Buffy the Vampire SlayerÂ
Favorites
Favorite Song (right now): Ship to Wreck by Florence & the Machine
Favorite Book (right now):  Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (right now & forever)
Favorite TV Show/Movie: I’m completely obsessed with Orphan Black at the moment
Favorite Word: Today its myriad, but I’ve also been using the word tangled a lot
Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Curse Word: Well there are 27 fucks in Spellbook of the Lost & Found (I’ve counted) so I’ll go with that!
Well now we have to read your thesis!!! Thanks for indulging our questions Moïra!!
About Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Moïra Fowley-Doyle is half-French, half-Irish and lives in Dublin with her husband, their young daughter and their old cat. Moïra's French half likes red wine and dark books in which everybody dies. Her Irish half likes tea and happy endings.
Moïra spent several years at university studying vampires in young adult fiction before concentrating on writing young adult fiction with no vampires in it whatsoever. She wrote her first novel at the age of eight, when she was told that if she wrote a story about spiders she wouldn't be afraid of them any more. Moïra is still afraid of spiders, but has never stopped writing stories.
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