February 8, 2022—Many Winsor families and colleagues were in attendance at English Faculty Lisa Stringfellow’s virtual book launch event with Brookline Booksmith. Her debut middle grade novel is A Comb of Wishes.

While the book’s setting of Saint Rita is fictional, it is inspired by Barbados, a place that is familiar to Ms. Stringfellow and where her father’s family is from. Set against the backdrop of Caribbean folklore, A Comb of Wishes weaves together the tale of Ophidia, a vengeful mermaid, and Kela, a grieving girl who lost her mother. When Kela finds and keeps Ophidia’s comb, Ophidia’s magic requires that she make a bargain: the comb in exchange for a wish. But what Kela wants most is for her mother to be alive…a big wish, with a big price.

To kick off the event, Ms. Stringfellow read from chapter one—Ophidia’s perspective—and then from chapter two—Kela’s perspective. The book alternates between their voices. “They both have lost something,” said Ms. Stringfellow, “Kela has had something taken away unfairly, and Ophidia thinks she has had something stolen.” 

Tui T. Sutherland, author of the New York Times best-selling series Wings of Fire, was Ms. Stringfellow’s conversation partner for the event. After the reading, Ms. Sutherland asked questions of her own and also from the audience. 

“It’s important work to get the words down,” said Ms. Stringfellow, who began the first draft of A Comb of Wishes in 2013 while she was living and teaching in Kentucky. In fact, she started her novel alongside her students as part of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month in November. It’s a unit she’s taught for the last nine years, including at Winsor. “We are all working towards the same goal,” she said of the experience. In November, Ms. Stringfellow and her students toil away on writing projects, setting them aside to revisit in February. “Young writers often submit work and think it’s done,” she explained, “but revision is part of the publishing process. Fun fact: the last chapter of the A Comb of Wishes used to be chapter one!” She shared, “The ending of the book actually shifted a few times. It had three different endings over the course of the manuscript and the first version is the one that ended up final.”

The character of Ophidia was inspired by Mami Wata, a West African water spirit who can bring people good fortune. “There is a tradition of black mermaids, but we haven't really seen them yet,” said Ms. Stringfellow. “Since Mami Wata is depicted as carrying a snake around her shoulders, I gave my mermaid a lot of snakelike movement.” In fact, Ophidia’s name is borrowed from the scientific name ophidia, for a group of squamate reptiles including modern snakes. “One of my favorite things is looking up etymologies of names,” shared Ms. Stringfellow.

Some current students asked questions during the Brookline Booksmith event, wanting to know, “What tips did you use that we talked about in class?” Ms. Stringfellow was ready with a response. “The importance of putting aside your writing and coming back to it with fresh eyes. Reading your work aloud, listen to your work so that you can hear it—that’s something I do. I always tell my students, look out for what characters go missing. And then an editor pointed out that I had an unexplored character in my own book! Honestly guys, most of the things I tell you to do I do myself. I’m not just trying to torture you!”

Since she signed a two-book deal with Quill Tree Books, Ms. Stringfellow is already hard at work on her next novel, squeezing in writing time at night when her family is asleep, during school vacation, and on the weekends. The forthcoming novel will be a stand alone fantasy, a take on a princess in a tower story, with a West African influence.