Every good fairy tale starts with Once Upon a Time.

Once upon a time, or to be more precise, at the age of six, Yorkshire born and bred deaf author Georgie St-Claire began to write, and she’s never stopped since.

BAD PRESS iNK publisher Iain Parke said: "We’re delighted to be able to launch Georgie’s dark fantasy In Silence and Shadows, the first book in the seven volume White Rose Witches series, during Deaf Awareness month as it seems such an appropriate time.

"Georgie’s writing has a distinctive voice and we expect her books to have a wide appeal to fans of the romantasy genre from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series to current cult hit Sarah J Maas."

In Silence and Shadows has been chosen as The Caring Book Club’s September read (caringbookclub.org / https://publishers.thepigeonhole.com/the-caring-book-club).

Georgie St-Claire was born and lives in Yorkshire. At age three she contracted meningitis and lost a large portion of her hearing. Her earliest memories include loving being alone, getting into trouble for not hearing teachers’ instructions, and relishing quiet reading time.

She spent a few years as a volunteer reading mentor in a primary school supporting children to read in her spare time, and is currently a secondary school governor, vice chair , and safeguarding and careers lead governor. She has two perfectly hearing secondary school-aged children and is trying to learn BSL.