Laurel McHargue

Laurel McHargue writes and narrates fantasy adventure, drawing on mountain landscapes and a longstanding interest in youth-oriented storytelling. Waterwight opens a trilogy about Celeste Araia Nolan, an orphan living years after a catastrophic event transformed her world. Celeste leaves the orphanage and encounters talking animals, a dangerous shape-shifting adversary, and evidence that she can defy gravity. Guidance from a mountain presence sends her toward the origin of an advancing body of water and a larger search for truth. Released in 2016, Waterwight precedes Waterwight Flux and Waterwight Breathe in the three-volume sequence. The Colorado-inspired landscape gives both natural and supernatural dangers a distinctive scale. Celeste must learn to judge allies, interpret her abilities, and question what she has been told about the disaster around her. Readers who enjoy quest fantasy will find a young protagonist moving beyond institutional safety into an altered environment where curiosity brings danger but also the knowledge needed to act independently.