Photo by Amber S. Wallace

“I don’t think Garden Spells would have come about if I’d thought, ‘I’m going to write a romance,’ or ‘I’m going to write chick-lit,’” says Asheville-based author Sarah Addison Allen. “You have to encapsulate your novel into a sellable point, but when you’re writing it, it has to be your story, not the story you think will sell.”

Her new novel, First Frost, revisits the Waverly family from Garden Spells, her initial foray into magical realism. First Frost will be released on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Read the full story here.