Guest Post: Enchantée author Gita Trelease on Worldbuilding, Digging Into History and Her Fave Historical Fantasies

In writing Enchantée, I tried to stick fairly closely to what actually happened in Paris in the spring of 1789, but I used magic to give voice to the emotional core of the story. On the one hand, the magic, which is fueled by sadness, is very personal: it’s what the protagonist Camille uses to temporarily transform scraps of metal into coins so that she can keep herself and her siblings alive. When things get worse, she needs to use a darker and more dangerous variant of this magic to transform herself, so that she can pass as a courtier at Versailles and win money by gambling. But because the magic is something only aristocrats have the power to control, it also becomes a metaphor for the exploitation of the lower classes in France before the French Revolution. This is the thing I love about joining history and fantasy: each genre helps amplify and illuminate the other.
Want to read more historical fantasy? Here are some of my inspirations:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
Long-lost magic brought back to life, writing that feels like the love-child of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, dangerous faeries, and a complex magical history described in footnotes—basically all my favorite things in one book.

The Blood Rose Rebellion, by Rosalyn Eves
I love this story of Anna Arden, who believes she is horribly barren because she can’t work magic, and the ways in which a coming revolution puts those beliefs to the test. Set in nineteenth-century Hungary, it gives readers a brand-new world to explore.

A Sorrow Bright and Burning, by Jessica Cluess  In an atmospheric early Victorian London plagued by supernatural monsters, a female sorcerer works to come into her power in a magical world dominated by men—one of whom is especially dreamy. This book has a Jane Eyre vibe that I adore.

The Diviners, by Libba Bray
A thrilling, kaleidoscopic novel set in New York in the 1920s, The Diviners follows flapper girl Evie as she sets out to solve a murder—all the while trying to hide her supernatural powers. Pitch-perfect 20s slang is the cherry on top.

Walk on Earth a Stranger, by Rae Carson
Lee Westfall can sense a vein of gold in the earth, or nuggets in a stream—a power that could bring her the riches she needs or put her in grave danger from those who would use her ability to profit. I loved this beautifully told Western with a dark magic twist.

Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman
In a perfectly rendered and glittering Regency London, demons kill with impunity and Byronesque lords seek to stop them. Smart, fierce Lady Helen Wrexhall must decide whether to stay protected in her upper-class world or use her supernatural powers to help defeat them. For the slightly reckless (in the *best* sense of the word) Lady Helen, it’s no contest.