Hi everyone! A few weeks ago, I had posted a guest review by author Julia L. Robertson to gush about Obsidian: Awakening by Sienna Frost. Today I am back with her and she is sharing an excerpt from her latest book, Into the Underwood. I am very excited to dive into this one myself and maybe you can gather why from this conversation with Julia!
Get to know the author: Julia L. Robertson
Welcome, Julia! It is wonderful to host you again! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
I am a 32 year-old bridal seamstress living out in Pennsyltucky with my wife, dog, and flock of chickens. As a 3rd-generation military brat, I spent the first eighteen years of my life traveling between military bases all over the US, Europe, and Asia. I love anything related to history, nature, art, fashion, folklore, and spirituality.
What inspired you to write this book?
The concept idea came to me after reading a Pinterest post about ideas for urban fantasy novels. One of the ideas listed was “a witch who helps her clients by sewing sigils into clothing.” It got me thinking about witches with sewing-related powers, and I was struck by the idea of writing about one who could bring embroidery to life.
A lot of the thematic elements of the book are drawn from certain moral questions I struggled with throughout my adolescence and much of my adulthood. I come from a devout Roman Catholic upbringing, which served me well in some ways, but also made it difficult to come to terms with my sexuality and find my place in the world as someone whose marriage does not easily fit in with conventional Christian morality.
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
I believe I started writing it around October of 2018. I finished the final edit was November of 2021.
What makes your story unique?
I’m often told that the premise itself is fairly unique, but I think it’s also unique in that the “strong female characters” are not strong in ways traditionally depicted in books and movies, i.e. that of “masculine” physical prowess. None of the female characters could possibly best the men in combat, they have no fighting skills, nor do they use brute force to get their way. I have personally always felt more alienated than inspired by such characters. Rather, the women in my story find their power through other means: endurance, cunning, resourcefulness, bravery, and compassion. Throughout the course of the story, the protagonist must turn her own perceived vulnerability on its head in order to triumph against someone who can, and often does, easily overpower her.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
Anyone who likes over-wrought, self-indulgent purple prose, but also likes stories that delve into dark, gritty subject matter and ask uncomfortable questions. I’m nowhere near the level of Angela Carter, but fans of hers would probably be fans of mine.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
Suffering is inevitable, but it does not have to be senseless or meaningless; genuine love is the best answer to suffering.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
Yes. This quote could sum up the whole book:
“She could see now that she had valued herself too little, and for that, she had paid a steep price. She had spent the last eight years cutting herself to pieces, compromising every fragment of her being to satisfy him, foolishly believing that one day it would be enough. The lesson came too late, but she had finally learned it: compliance wasn’t enough, obedience wasn’t enough, working hard with her head down would never be enough. He would devour every inch she offered him until there was nothing left, and if there was anything she wished to keep for herself, she would have no choice but to fight for it.”
Into the Underwood
Against the harrowing backdrop of World War II, a young seamstress’ ability to bring embroidery to life exposes an unremembered past and unforeseeable future. Sylvia Taylor began her life following in her mother’s footsteps, training to become London’s next high-end dressmaker. But when a series of air raids send her back to her mother’s home village of Lustleigh, she is immediately abducted by Der Erlkönig, the immortal ruler of the Underwood—a woodland kingdom of spirits and monsters. As Sylvia endures an indefinite term of servitude to settle a mysterious family debt, she meets Sasha, a famine survivor from the Soviet Union, with whom she begins piecing together dark secrets from her family’s past.
Content notes include sexual content, grooming, gaslighting, abuse, sexual violence, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and references to historical atrocities.
Find this book on Goodreads, Indie Story Geek, Amazon.
Book Excerpt from
Into The Underwood
The garden they entered that night was not at all the same one where they’d met several weeks prior. Awash in moonlight, it appeared as Sylvia had never seen it before, a drama of shadow playing over every tree and sculped topiary, its darkest umbras rivaling the night sky’s own deep velvet. Every sun-seeking blossom closed itself off from the world, giving way to nightflox, moonflowers, night-scented orchids where their unfurled petals caught drops of starlight in their cups. The day had been a particularly warm one, its heat lingering well into the evening hours. Without any breeze to disturb it, the pond was laid out before them, still as glass, trapping the moon’s image beneath a net of lilies.
For a moment the two women just stood by the water’s edge, mesmerized by its poetry of light and shadow. Each glanced at the other, as if daring her to make the first move. Sasha’s eyes, blue and bright as a spark, ignited something within Sylvia, combusting in a chain reaction through her nerves, finally meeting her fingertips where she slipped her kerchief from her shoulders and allowed it to flutter to the ground. In the next instant, both women began shedding their clothes, Sylvia’s hands working eagerly to unfasten her jacket, her skirts, to unlace her stays. She retained only her shift for covering, a thin sheath of the finest muslin draped between her and the open sky. But as she chanced a glance at Sasha, a rush of heat crept up the length of her neck.
Sasha had removed her shirt completely, a pair of small breasts perched like roosting doves upon the arch of her ribcage, and was already in the process of peeling off her trousers. The jutting bone of her pelvis, the soft curve of her hip, the tufted cleft between her thighs, all, in turn, were fearlessly exposed to the warm night air and the muted haze of moonlight. Her hair, loosed from its plait, fell about her in soft, bright tongues of flame, lapping at her neck, her muscled back, her freckled shoulder blades. Sylvia had seen other women undressed before—spirit women with their fantastical anatomy—but never another overworlder like her, never another woman of her own familiar proportions and composition. For the first time in her life, she understood what it meant: that “irresistible affinity” Cygnette kept going on about.
Catching her in a stare, Sasha threw her a sly smile. “Why are you keeping your clothes on?”
Sylvia just blinked at her, wide-eyed and speechless. Sasha laughed, taking hold of the shift. “You’re too modest,” she said. “No one can see us out here.”
Dread dug its claws into Sylvia the instant the garment was lifted over her head and discarded on the ground. Dread that Sasha would see it written into her skin like ink, everything she was thinking, everything she was feeling, laid bare before her eyes. No longer the cold, prudish Victorian she had imagined herself to be, beneath her wools and heavy linens lay only ordinary flesh and blood, long-neglected and starved for contact. But somehow, she had been switched, inverted, Nature playing some nasty trick on her, seeking too much her own likeness in the embodiment of another. She turned away, wrapping her arms around herself, more conscious of her nakedness than ever before.
Interested? Read the first five chapters on Julia’s website!
You can connect with Julia on Facebook, Instagram and learn more about her latest books on her website. You can also follow her Amazon and Goodreads pages for updates.
Into the Underwood is on my TBR (many thanks to Julia for the complimentary review copy!) and I will be back with my review in the future!
If you are an indie author and would like to do a book excerpt, check out my work with me page for details.
Cover image: Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
Thank you so much for this post, Kriti!
You are most welcome! 🙂