Beth Golay

The book opens with two siblings, a sister and a brother named Wyn and Rory, who are several years apart.

Frustrated by his endless demands to play, Winn crafts a playmate for Rory, a Blodewed, which Rory names Day.

As Rory grows up, Day is recrafted and renewed each season, and the power dynamic between the two shifts and begins to take a more sinister turn because Day, as a Blodewed, must always do what her creator requests.

I recently spoke with Bar Friedman Tell about Honeysuckle and the Welsh myth of the Blodewed that served as her inspiration.

I was unfamiliar with this myth of the Blodewed.

Where did you develop an interest in this mythology?

So your novel, Honeysuckle, is set in a different world where there are some elements of magic.

And obviously the Bledeweds are magical.

And at the school, you know, one of our primary characters, Rory, attends.

It's implied that he's learning magic in some of his courses.

But other than that, the magic is really subtle here.

I mean, there aren't any crazy magical things going on and life seems really pretty ordinary.

I mean, there are pay phones and answering machines.

Talk to me about how you decided upon setting and just how much magic would be a part of this world.

So in Honeysuckle, the Bledewed was created for Rory, a young boy who was eight at the time, by his older sister, Wyn.

And he called her Day.

And although Day is not human, she still deals with some of the challenges that human women endure, particularly when it comes to safety around men.

So talk to me about the importance of giving Day some of these human experiences.

You know, I'd like to talk a little bit about the theme of consent, because as it is explained, the Bledewed has to say yes to whatever is asked of her by the person who created her.

And when creating Day for Rory...