What Patricia Wrede says about herself:
I was born on March 27, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. I am the eldest of five siblings (four girls and one boy). Currently, I have four nephews and four nieces living in Alabama, Maine, and Illinois.
Everyone in my family is a voracious reader, and I grew up surrounded by books (pretty much literally–we had bookshelves on nearly every flat wall in the house, and there were books in the back of the linen cupboard, books in the bathroom storage shelves behind the cleaning supplies and towels, and books in all the closets). Among my favorites were the Oz books (I have over thirty of them), the Narnia Chronicles, and a long list of collections of fairy tales and myths.
I graduated from high school in 1970 and attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where I earned an A.B. in Biology in 1974. Then I moved up the road to Minneapolis/St. Paul and worked in clerical jobs for a year before returning to school at the University of Minnesota for my M.B.A.
I got my M.B.A. in 1977, and started working as a financial analyst while writing in my spare time. I sold my first novel, Shadow Magic, in 1980 (it was published two years later, in 1982). In the same year, I became a founding member of the Interstate Writers’ Workshop, aka the Scribblies, to which I belonged for five extremely productive years.
By 1985, I was having increasing difficulty in balancing a full-time job in finance with full-time writing. Something had to give, and with a lot of support from my friends and family, I chose to quit my day job and write.
I still live in the suburbs of the Twin Cities with my two cats, currently Cazaril (a Maine Coon/tabby mix) and Karma (a brown tabby kitten).
from www.pcwrede.com
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede. Book One in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles Quartet.
" Princess Cimorene is frustrated by her life and persuades the castle staff to teach her fencing, magic, cooking, Latin, and other interesting subjects that are considered "improper" for princesses to learn.
The King and Queen take Cimorene on a state visit to a neighboring kingdom. Cimorene learns that they plan to arrange her marriage to an annoying prince. Faced with the prospect, Cimorene runs away. She meets a group of dragons, and volunteers to become the "captive" princess of the dragon Kazul. Kazul assigns Cimorene to cook for her and organize her library and treasure hoard.
Cimorene likes her position and becomes friends with Kazul, but finds she must constantly deal with knights and princes who want to rescue her. She hopes that a sign on the road to the cave will keep would-be rescuers at bay.
While posting the sign, Cimorene encounters a wizard. The wizard tries to stop her from returning home, but Cimorene does not fall for his tricks. Annoyed, the wizard leaves using complicated magic, and Cimorene guesses that he is a powerful wizard. Cimorene tells Kazul about her meeting with this suspicious character, and Kazul explains that the dragons and the wizards disagree about the wizards' access to the Caves of Fire and Night. The wizards' staffs absorb magic from any magical sources nearby - including dragons." (Wikipedia)
And therein lies the problem. Cimorene recognizes that the Enchanted Forest is being destroyed by the wizards. When Kazul falls ill, quite possibly the wizards' doing, Cimorene knows what she must do before a tragedy occurs. But who can she turn to? Who can help her thwart the wizards? Cimorene needs allies and must find them soon.
