other book I've ever written or tried to write; it was like a bolt of lightning, and consequently, I remember exactly where I was. I was standing in the sun, on the balcony over the courtyard in the main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library in Jacksonville, Florida, having a casual phone conversation with my mother. I told her I wasn't sure what I was going to write once I was done with Fire . She said to me something along the lines of, "You know who's interesting, Kristin? Bitterblue." When she said the word, it was like a puzzle piece falling into place -- in a puzzle I hadn't even realized I was building! In that moment, I didn't know what the story was going to be, but I knew, with conviction, that it would be Bitterblue's story. It was kind of weird, to be honest. Then, as I began to plan the book and realize what the plot needed to be, my mental understanding caught up with my emotional understanding. The story became clear to me; Bitterblue's need to deal with her past became apparent. Maybe she'd been asking me to help her tell her story all along, but I didn't hear her until the moment my mother spoke her name. Helen: Bitterblue is also strongly focused around consequences arising from Monsea's past under Leck, both for individual people and the society as a whole. Did you set out to explore consequences in this way, or did the