In The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel, author Alyssa Palombo has done a retelling of the classic tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, from the point of view of Katrina Van Tassel. However, this tale will go on beyond where the classic ends and takes readers to a different conclusion.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an American classic by Washington Irving. In 1820, the first short story was published. The popularity of the book has lasted almost two centuries. So many adaptations have been made from it. Some of its characters, especially The Headless Horseman, have become the part of the pop culture.
One her blog, author tells how much she loves the original tale. She says, “I’ve been obsessed with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in particular since I was a kid; I used to watch the cartoon version all the time, and to this day Tim Burton’s movie version, Sleepy Hollow, is one of my all-time favourite films (with my all-time favourite film score).”
This is Alyssa’s third book. Her previous books, The Violinist of Venice and The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence, are also historical fictions; though The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel will be the first novel set in her home country of America.
The original plot is about two men competing for a woman; but according to the Alyssa this one will have a “strong female friendship”. She says on her blog, “Like my first two books, it has a strong female friendship; though in Spellbook that friendship, between Katrina and a character I’ve invented named Charlotte Jansen, really takes center stage. I have such wonderful, close, supportive female friends in my life who really inspired me to try to render the full truth of that relationship on the page, and show how our friendships can really anchor and support women through our most difficult times. I’ve seen this play out in my own life so much that I knew it was something I wanted to explore more deeply in my writing”.
