Kate Goodwin began writing Paragon in the sleepless hours of early motherhood, when a simple retelling grew into a story about identity and the quiet burdens women are asked to bear.

After a decade in corporate PR telling other people’s stories, she turned to her own—crafting folkloric romantasy inspired by overlooked historic places. Her debut, set in Gilded Age St. Paul, reimagines Sleeping Beauty through a cursed debutante and the streetcar conductor who derails her careful life.

She writes from her house in the woods of the Midwest, where her children roam, her garden runs wild, and her bourbon shelf is rarely empty.