We recently published Sara Dobbie’s luminous “Lady Blake.”

Here, we ask her two questions about her story:

1) I love the Romantic feel of this story — a husband lost at sea, a suicidal son, a Lady! And you take all that and compress it and twist it into this beautiful little unexpected bit of beauty! What inspired this character (and her Romantic nature) for you?
I started with the idea of the wings, and I knew I wanted an elegant lady sewing them. I think that typically, older single women or widows in stories are seen as frightening and witchy to neighborhood children, but I chose to take that feminine power and magic and have the children love her for it. The tragic fate of Lady Blake’s family adds to her mystery in their eyes, thereby creating that romantic nature you mentioned.

2) There is an “Emperor’s New Clothes” feel to this as well, but instead of anyone being the butt of a joke, it becomes something more magical. Where do you think these children will go with these new, invisible wings?
I like to think they would soar over the sea in search of the octopus to avenge Captain Blake! Or perhaps they could fly back in time to save him and bring him home to his wife, and then go in search of the son. The main thing is that with the wings, real or not, they have the courage to believe in themselves, to believe that they can go anywhere they want in life.