The idea for Dr. Kelly Jacobson’s most recent novel, “Lies of a Toymaker,” came to her while window-shopping in Winchester, Virginia.
Jacobson, an assistant professor of English at the University of Lynchburg, was there to give a talk at Shenandoah University and had some time on her hands before the event. As she walked through the quaint downtown, an idea started to form.
“I was walking around Winchester, thinking about retellings, what my talk was on, and I walked by a toy store,” Jacobson said. “And as I’m walking, the retellings and the toy store sparked the idea that became what was the opening chapter of the book.
“[The opening chapter] is different now, but a ton of stuff from the real Winchester ended up in the book. The characters literally ate the same bagels I ate there. … My ideas don’t always come that way, but this is the weirdest spark that has come to me.”
Set in fictitious Wintroster, “Lies of a Toymaker” is a queer retelling of the Pinocchio story. It’s Jacobson’s third book in the genre, preceded by “Tink and Wendy,” inspired by Peter Pan, and “Robin and Her Misfits,” a spin on the Robin Hood story.
Its protagonist is Paige, a queer teen whose mom, Petta, is a traveling toymaker who takes her daughter back to her hometown, Wintroster. There, Paige discovers she has relatives who own a palace/prison, where “toys have been warped and turned into monsters.”
In a plotline Jacobson describes as “a cross between the classic ‘Pinocchio’ and a Stephen King novel, like ‘The Gunslinger,’” Paige must “fight off all these really creepy toys” and, in doing so, save their world.
“I write a lot about empowered female protagonists,” Jacobson said. “This is another one of those. It’s a queer young adult story, but very much an adventure, not a romance. … This one is a lot about family dynamics and kind of learning to stand up for who you are.
“Each of my books is about something contemporary, even though they’re retellings. ‘Tink and Wendy’ is about toxic masculinity and ‘Robin and Her Misfits’ is about found family and finding community.”
Over the next several months, Jacobson will travel the mid-Atlantic promoting her book. She also is working on a textbook, “Young Adult Fiction Writing: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology,” and she has already finished a sequel to “Lies of a Toymaker.”
You can read more about Jacobson and check out her tour schedule here.
