Some authors plan their careers with military precision. Others stumble into storytelling like falling through a wardrobe into another world. Elena Ashworth belongs firmly in the latter camp.
Origins
“I never set out to write a romantic fantasy,” Ashworth tells me, laughing, from her book-cluttered study. “I was trying to write a political thriller. But the characters kept falling in love, and eventually I had to accept that the story knew what it wanted to be better than I did.”
That story became The Binding of Stars, a debut novel that critics have called “the most assured first novel in the genre since Uprooted.” It tells the story of a celestial cartographer tasked with mapping the dying constellations of a collapsing universe — and the immortal being who guards the last star.
Craft and Philosophy
“I think the best love stories are about two people who make each other braver,” Ashworth says. “Not complete — I don’t believe in the idea that we’re incomplete without romantic love. But braver. Love as a catalyst for becoming more fully yourself.”
Her prose reflects this philosophy. It is precise without being cold, lyrical without being overwrought. Every sentence earns its place on the page.
What’s Next
Ashworth is currently working on a duology set in the same universe, exploring the mythological origins of the star-binding magic. “It’s bigger and stranger than the first book,” she promises. “And the romance is slower. More painful. More earned.”
If her debut is any indication, we should prepare to have our hearts thoroughly dismantled.