The Willow’s Chronicles are dark-fantasy books written for curious and fearless middle-graders. They walk the line between magic realism, horror, and history.

The series takes its name from the willow, a mystical tree in Czech folklore, one that grows where the two worlds touch, that stands by rivers and marshes where the veil between realms grows thin. In each book, a willow bears witness to the story unfolding beneath its branches. The tree holds the past the way mud holds footprints. It remembers.

All three stories take place in the late 1980s in Czechoslovakia, where I grew up. Back then, it was a Soviet-controlled socialist state marked by political repression, a strong secret police presence, and a growing undercurrent of dissent influence that would eventually lead to the Velvet Revolution.

Combine it with the rich folklore of water spirits, rat-catchers, ghosts, fire goblins, noon witches, and will-o’-the-wisp… and you’re almost there. Add strong middle-grade characters and coming of age stories, sprinkle in some darkness and a dash of light and hope at the end of the tunnel. Now, you have arrived.

Welcome.