In order to create the magic and legacy that answer Bree’s questions, I took hold of the pattern of loss in my matrilineal line, then wove that pattern into the otherworldly qualities of the women in my family. Bree’s story is, at its core, a story about someone who wants to understand the role of death in her life. It’s about Black motherhood and Black daughterhood. But it’s also a story of someone who wants very much to understand and honor her mother and ancestors.

GRIEF AND TRAUMA

Legendborn addresses several types of trauma. Bree’s grief-related trauma is directly drawn from my own experiences. In the book, she suffers from acute traumatic grief, PTSD, and early symptoms of Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (PCBD), reflecting my current nonprofessional understanding of those conditions; PCBD is a relatively recent addition to the DSM-5 amid evolving research. In my case, it took a year after my mother’s death to seek the support of a bereavement specialist and ten years before I began focused grief treatment with a trauma professional. In the interim, I’d lost my biological father and the father who raised me. Part of why I wrote Legendborn is because I hope to raise awareness of these sometimes comorbid conditions, particularly when they occur due to loss of a parent and/or when they occur in young people. Many people live with these disorders, undiagnosed, and suffer in silence due to how our society treats grief and death. Many people turn away from this type of suffering, even those who are suffering themselves. If that’s you, just know you’re not alone and that trauma is treatable.

Legendborn also addresses: intergenerational trauma experienced by descendants of enslaved people, the ways in which trauma can manifest between parents and children, and the legacies of racial trauma, oppression, and resilience.

ROOTCRAFT

In addition to drawing on my own life to create the fictional magic system of rootcraft, I took inspiration from African American history and spiritual traditions. In particular, I focused on rootwork, also known as hoodoo or conjure. Rootwork was developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants under American chattel slavery, and it can be traced from its historic origins to varied practices in present-day African American communities. Rootwork is not a centralized tradition, and practitioners from different families, regions, and times have their own gospel on what it looks like. But there are common aspects, many of which can be found in other traditions and religions, including those with roots in West Africa. “Rootcraft” in Legendborn borrows four of these common elements: ancestor reverence and communion, the ritual use of organic materials, naturopathic medicine and healing, and themes of protection.

Rootwork is a historic and living folk tradition and spiritual practice, but it is not the practice in my book. While the rootcraft magic Bree explores in the book is fictional, I chose to use the term “root” in Legendborn for four reasons: