Emily Carpenter
Author Interview - Emily Carpenter
Author of Reviving The Hawthorne Sisters and A Spell for Saints and Sinners
About A Spell for Saints and Sinners:
In front of an elegantly shabby townhouse on a Savannah side street sits a hand-painted sign: Miss Edie, Psychic. Ingrid White inherited the house and business from her beloved grandmother, a local celebrity in town. But unless Ingrid can find a way to pay for crushing property taxes and mounting repairs, she’s going to lose them both.
Ingrid has faith in the homespun witchcraft Edie passed down to her, yet hope and clients are dwindling. . . . Until Sailor Loeffler’s bachelorette party changes everything. Sailor is local royalty—part of the vast “Savannah Sauce” empire, beautiful and wealthy beyond imagining—and Ingrid’s reading is so accurate that she becomes the bride-to-be’s confidante. To keep that access and all the privileges it brings, Ingrid relies more and more on hexes and dark spells—using the baneful magic Edie always warned her against.
As Ingrid works even riskier spells, she is drawn further into the Loefflers’ inner circle and the obstacles in her path melt away. But is it witchcraft or other, more earthbound forces? Ingrid can feel the lines blurring even as her powers seem to grow, until she must confront the truth about just how far some people, including herself, will go to keep the life they’ve always wanted . .
“The bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls returns to uncover a faith healer’s elusive and haunted past.”
Author Interview - Emily Carpenter
Author I draw inspiration from:
2025: Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects!
2020: All of life. I'm so inspired by other people's art - music and painting and movies and other books. I'm inspired by real human relationships and what's going on in our culture, in the news.
Favorite place to read a book:
2025: in bed
2020: On a chaise on the beach, under an umbrella.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2025: I'd be cool getting stuck with Heathcliffe from Wuthering Heights. I'm not sure how the scenario would play out exactly, but I expect his escape solution would be both ingenius and slightly illegal and also he'd be nice to look at and would say morbid and darkly poetic things throughout the whole process.
2020: Katniss Everdeen because she would figure out a cool way to get us out.
Author Interview - Emily Carpenter
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2025: When I read Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects. Not to sound like a broken record but this book is genius and fires on all cylinders. When I read it, every one of my beloved core storytelling tropes just lit up like the Fourth of July.
2020: I wanted to be a screenwriter in my 20s and 30s and then I realized, in my 40s that writing a book might be an easier way to tell stories.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2025: Hardbacks are gorgeous but they're heavy and hard to hold in bed or the bathtub. Paperbacks are better for bed and bath reading but they don't look as pretty on a bookshelf. Ebooks are great for a last-minute, gotta-have-it-right-now read, but I don't like not having a physical copy in my hands. Audio is perfect for traveling in the car or when you need to do laundry or clean, but again...the lack of a physical copy bugs me.
2020: paperback
The last book I read:
2025: My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell was stunning, unsettling, disturbing and exquisitely crafted. It's a hard book to recommend because it's basically a walking/talking trigger warning, but I'm so glad I read it.
2020: The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
Author Interview - Emily Carpenter
Pen & paper or computer:
2025: When I first come up with an idea, I'm all about pen and paper. I scribble notes so I won't forget anything, but the main event is a hand-drawn outline on a piece of paper, preferably graph, turned horizontally. I draw one long line across the page that represents the three acts of the book, with inciting event, turning points, midpoint, and climax. I scribble all over this too, adding settings, random events, characters, but it all fits on one page. If I have a whole three acts and I feel excited about it, I know I have a book and I can start writing. At this point I go to the computer, open a Word document, do a title page and start writing straight through to the end.
2020: Computer
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2025: Carrie White from Carrie, by Stephen King. I'd befriend her and help her escape her evil mother and get her to do cool telekinetic tricks with me.
2020: Jo from Little Women. I'm more of an Amy, if I'm being honest, but I think I'd be besties with Jo.
Author Interview - Emily Carpenter
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
2025: An actor. A mediocre actor.
2020: Set designer for films.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
2025: I love those loose, drapey, flapper outfits from the 1920s. They look exquisite but also comfortable.
2020: 1810's - I love those gauzy, white, empire waisted Regency dresses.
Place I’d most like to travel:
2025: I'm obsessed with Scotland and England, I don't know why but I think it has to do with being the place where my ancestors come from. Something primal calls me back there.
2020: Scotland and every island everywhere...
My signature drink:
2025: Coke Zero and a mocha from Starbucks.
2020: Starbucks - grande, two-pump mocha with no whip cream. Also I like a Moscow mule and red wine.
Favorite artist:
2025: John Paul White, an incredible singer, songwriter. Formerly one half of The Civil Wars, I love his single career even more.
2020: Klimt
Number one on my bucket list:
2025: Learning to play bluegrass banjo well enough that I don't make people cringe and run out of the room.
2020: Own a tiny cabin in the Scottish Highlands. Also this one will probably go unchecked.
Anything else you'd like to add:
2020: I'm so grateful for all my readers, past, present, and future. You guys are the best.
Find more from the author:
Instagram: @emily.d.c
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emily.d.carpenter.9
About Emily Carpenter:
Emily Carpenter
Emily Carpenter is the bestselling author of six suspense novels. As Isla Moore, she has a contemporary romance series, the Thornhill, Georgia Books. GOTHICTOWN, a Publishers Marketplace BUZZ BOOKS Selection, was given a starred review by Booklist and is currently in development by AMC TV and Made with Love Media as a limited series TV show.
After graduating from Auburn University in Alabama with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication, she moved to New York City. She’s worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and also as a behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her family.
Her next book is A SPELL FOR SAINTS AND SINNERS is out on March 31, 2026.
