The desire to give young people a taste of some of the greatest pieces of literature ever written inspired Griselda Heppel to become a children’s author. Her first book, Ante’s Inferno, recast Dante’s Inferno as a fantasy adventure, in which 12 year-old Antonia is sent on a dark journey through the classical underworld to the heart of Hell. The book won the People’s Book Prize and a Gold Wishing Shelf Award, and was runner-up in Writing Magazine’s Self Publishing Award.

From Dante and his infernal creatures, the next logical step (obvs) was to take on the legend of Doctor Faustus. The Tragickall History of Henry Fowst centres on 13 year-old Henry, who decides the best way to solve his problems is to call up a demon. What could possibly go wrong?

The supernatural theme continues in The Fall of a Sparrow, a haunting thriller set in an old-fashioned boarding school, in which 11 year-old Eleanor stumbles on long-buried secrets that soon threaten to engulf her. The book won a Bronze Wishing Shelf Award, as well as reaching the finals of the Rubery Independent Book Awards and the Page Turner Awards.

Griselda constructs school visits around exciting themes in her books, including the classical underworld, Dante, Elizabethan magic and the Faustian pact, ghost story traditions and gothic fiction.