Waltham Abbey Author Tracey Rolfe, has released the sixth book in The White Witch of Spiton series, ‘The Sisters of Estella’.
Rolfe, 54, said: “The Sixth book [in the White Witch of Spiton series) was the hardest book to write, because there’s loads of different twists and turns” for her characters. Plus “it’s a sixth book, so all the characters had to have a conclusion”, she adds.
The Sisters of Estella follows the protagonist Isobel Ashwell (a white witch), who is celebrating her 16th birthday, and is given an old key by her best friend and fellow witch Holly. This leads Isobel to a hostile land (Sorcha), which is full of archangels, kings, vampires and monsters. While back in Spiton, her arch-enemy and wizard Nemor is planning his final revenge.
The main protagonist of the book, Isabelle, has grown up in the series, and she is now a young adult; which has allowed Tracey to further develop her character: “I feel like Isobel really comes into her own in this [book] and she’s at the stage, where’s there’s a lot of people that want to take revenge on her. The main person is his son Nemor, who for years has threatened to take revenge on Isobel for [his father’s] death. And it’s a case of now, is Isobel up to the job of battling Nemor.”
Tales of Greek astrology inspired the plot line for ‘The Sisters of Estella’, as Tracey wished to ‘keep a witchy theme’ going for the series. “I’ve always loved astrology, and I saw a documentary about the Pleiades, and the seven stars’, she said. ‘Each of the seven stars, is in mythology is a goddess and each one is a different goddess. They’re a constellation of stars, which do exist”.
Tracey admits it’s not easy to combine elements of history and mythology with the ‘witchy’ theme in her books: “It’s a mixture of fiction and nonfiction combined, [so] it’s not as easy as you think it is”.
However, the Historical Novel Society, praised her ability to combine these elements. and said: “It is extremely clear that the author enjoys writing these stories; the love she bears her characters overflows on the pages and engages the reader, captivating them to read to the end.”
The fantasy elements carefully combined with historical and mythological sources, is perfect for readers, who what a book that will leave them spellbound. Tracey commented that “If you love magical fantasy, if you love stories about witches but also if you love history as well, and if you want to read about something that’s been inspired an actual real shop, that you can go and visit, that my character in my world owns. And Spiton is Waltham Abbey, so everything that I write about you can go and visit, it does exist even though it’s a fantasy. If you want to read about a powerful female character who’s quite girly but I think Isobel is a character that is inspiring to other young women and other young girls.”
A key source of inspiration for her books, comes from a shop that opened 17 years ago in Waltham Abbey, Essex, called The White Witch. Tracey said, she has “always felt [she] was a spiritual person anyway, very intuitive. So, I started to go into the shop, and I got to know the owner Debbie really well and I found myself in the shop quite often, because I just loved it in there”.
“The fact it’s about magic, you’ve got everything a child [or] adult would love about magic [in the shop]”, adds Tracey. “And their customers are real witches as well, but also, you’ve got people who aren’t witches that go in there because they find it fascinating”.
The White Witch ship may have inspired her books, but Tracey Rolfe’s journey to become a writer has been 12 years in the making.Rolfe, who has self-published all six books in series ‘The White Witch of Spiton’, but “self-publishing isn’t for the faint hearted” says Tracey, “You have to be your “own agent, publicist and marketing consultant”. Self Publishing has allowed Tracey to take control over the editing, publishing, marketing and distribution of her books; and get them out into the world. “It’s has been an amazing journey [so far]” adds Tracey.
When it comes to being a self published author, or an author in general, “the main thing is to keep writing, keep believing in yourself and you’ll meet the right people, and you create your audience and your audience really speaks for your success, they speak for your work. And I’ve been lucky to create a really good following in America [too].”
For her next project, Tracey revealed she is looking towards the film industry, to get her books and Isobel on the silver screen. She revealed she is a ‘huge Disney fan’ and would love for her books to be picked up by Disney Pixar as “everything is so realistic now and [she] loves the humour in a cartoon”.
As a film adaptation is being considered storylines are tied up and characters receive their endings, Tracey reflects on how she has “seen [her] growth as a writer within the ages, as she completed the ‘Sisters of Estella; but she revealed she’s left things open, should she decide to return to the series. “There’s not an ending where I couldn’t carry on if I wanted [too], even though Isobel sixteen, I could carry on. Or some people do shoot off characters, a story about another character in the book. So, there’s still a lot of ideas, [the series] has been left open” for more magical adventures with Isobel Ashwell, the White Witch of Spiton.
the girl and the city of books 
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