Author: David Randall

David Randall began his fantasy career with a young protagonist confronting family secrets and an inherited moral struggle. Clovermead is published in full as Clovermead: In the Shadow of the Bear, so In the Shadow of the Bear functions as its subtitle and the name of the series, not as another novel. Margaret K. McElderry Books published it in 2004 for readers aged twelve and older. Clovermead Wickward begins as an innkeeper’s daughter fascinated by adventure stories, then discovers unusual powers and the hidden past of her father, Waxmelt. Bear-priests serving Lord Ursus provide the fantasy conflict, while Clovermead’s choices give the book its emotional center. The initial arc continues with Chandlefort and Sorrel, and Randall added a fourth work, Ursus: In the Shadow of the Bear, in 2010. Randall received an MFA from Columbia University and later completed a doctorate in British history, training that complements the novel’s invented religions, courtly structures, and medieval-style setting. Publishers Weekly identified Clovermead as his debut.