Synopsis

A spellbinding tale of forbidden love and the power of words, where a girl must choose between the life written for her and the future she dares to imagine.

In a small Georgia town, Nelle’s life has been carefully scripted by her creator and captor, the reclusive author Wallace Quill. Born from ink and imagination, every breath she takes is dictated by his pen. But on a star-studded Fourth of July night, she meets James—a young man with dreams as vivid as the fireworks above them—and suddenly, the unwritten becomes possible.

As Nelle and James fall deeply in love, they embark on a breathtaking journey across Europe, each new experience a defiant stroke against the words that bind her. But freedom has a price. With every mile they travel, the ink in Nelle’s veins threatens to rewrite their story. In a world where every moment could be her last, Nelle and James must fight to write their own happily ever after—before the final page turns.

Amazon * B&N * Bookshop

Interview with Garrett Curbow, author of

WHISPERS OF INK AND STARLIGHT

How did you get your start writing? What was your road to publication like?

I was six or seven when I wrote my first story. I was inspired by The Boxcar Children, Magic Tree House, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Soon after, I knew I wanted to be a published author. When I was eight-years-old, my mom got a call from a vanity press that I had contacted for my hand-written, hand-illustrated Narnia rip-off. She passed me the phone and said, “This is for you.” For as long as I can remember wanting to do anything, I have wanted to create and share stories.

At fourteen, I finished my first novel, a YA fantasy called Daughter of Light. Throughout high school, I edited, revised, and eventually rewrote Daughter of Light from scratch. In college (after writing the first draft of what would be Whispers of Ink and Starlight), I posted a TikTok announcing that I’d be self-publishing Daughter of Light. What followed was seven million views and thousands of supportive followers. After the publication of Daughter of Light came the lucky insanity that were my foreign book deals, then the sequel Slayer of Gods, followed by the conclusion Father of Night in 2024.

For Whispers of Ink and Starlight, a literary agent reached out to me in 2023 because of a reel I had posted on Instagram about the book. I sent my query, he requested a full, and two months later, I was signed with Triada US and working on a revision. We went on submission in Spring of 2024 and sold Whispers of Ink and Starlight that July. I have always looked at my writing in two ways: as a passion, and as a career. I love it, but I also have to be strategic. I want to only write when I feel inspired, but I need to write everyday to stay afloat. I credit most of my journey to traditional publication to luck, but I would never have been in the position to get lucky without continually grinding toward the goal of being an author.

What inspired you to write Whispers of Ink and Starlight?

Whispers of Ink and Starlight was born from a magical concoction of my first Autumn in college, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab, coming out of quarantine in 2020, and folklore and evermore by Taylor Swift being on constant repeat. I knew when I started writing it, before there was a plot, before there were even characters, that I wanted to write something atmospheric, literary, romantic, and bittersweet. The magical realism element didn’t click until I had already started drafting.

How did you approach the magical realism in the story?

When I was eighteen, I started experimenting with realistic fiction. Whispers of Ink and Starlight was, for a short period of time, intended to have zero magic. By the time I was writing chapter three, that had changed. You see, I tend to draft in chronological order. It’s the only way I can naturally let the story unfold. Chapter one, from Nelle’s perspective, didn’t exist in the first draft. Chapter two, when James and Nelle meet on the Fourth of July, was the initial first chapter. When I started Nelle’s perspective in chapter three, her character walked onto the page as a magically-created person. I didn’t know how she was made or why she was made, only that she was. Considering my next book has demons, I fear fantasy might be ingrained in my writing DNA.

Who was your favorite character to create?

I know I shouldn’t pick favorites, but it’s Nelle. It took a few rounds of edits to nail down her character, but once I did, I was obsessed with writing from her perspective. She is insightful, intelligent, snarky, yet filled with a childlike wonder. Writing Nelle rewired my brain to view the world similarly to her. Every cup of coffee is a gift. Every leaf I see fall is a work of art I have witnessed. Every dream is possible and every love is big. Nelle walks through the world with a full heart, and even when it gets bruised, she never stops finding gratitude for all facets of life.

About the Author

Garrett Curbow is the author of the Daughter of Light trilogy, which was short-listed for the Publishers Weekly Selfies Award. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Website * Instagram * TikTok