I started writing The Mulberry Door with my main character, Jenny. I knew what was going on in her mind at the beginning of the story. I also knew that I couldn’t magically make her pain disappear. I know, it’s a fantasy story, but in every world, pain still exists.

We live in a society that tries to make us grow up as quickly as possible. In fact, when we’re young, we want to be adults ourselves.

Picking up a fantasy book is almost automatic for me.

We think of 'comfort books' as books that make us feel good. Books that offer comfort and sometimes even create a feeling of safety. If we were to compare them to a warm blanket on a cold winter day, then 'healing fantasy' is the warm mug, filled with our favourite drink, that we hold in our hands.

Have you ever experienced someone looking at you strangely when you tell them how you feel during or after reading a book? And especially when it’s a fantasy book? Because that can’t be real, right? “It’s just a book, it’s not real.”

Let me be honest with you, when I entered the world of YA Fantasy, I really doubted whether it was something for me. Not the fantasy part, because I already loved reading fantasy before that.

Reading about characters who find themselves in another world actually gives you the feeling that if that is possible, perhaps it is also possible for you to feel better.

Reading is not just a way to pass the time, it's also a way to step into a new world, filled with the thrill of discovering everything for the very first time.

The reason I started writing fiction is not only because of my preference for books. Although I also read other genres, fantasy has always been my favorite.

You know it, even though you can’t see it. Even though you can’t feel it. Knowing that you will see the sun again doesn’t make today any better.

Simply because it helped me.