Margaret Owen on Little Thieves and why YA fantasy is having a moment right now

Margaret Owen has become quite a buzzy name in the world YA fantasy of late. (And by “world of YA fantasy,” I also mean “my personal reading list”.) From her debut duology comprised of The Merciful Crow and The Faithless Hawk to her new novel Little Thieves, her books are full of unexpected surprises, from their complex worldbuilding to their unconventional heroines.

Little Thieves puts a unique spin on the  Grimm’s fairytale, “The Goose Girl,” using the story’s familiar framework to turn the story of the character who stole her mistress’s life on its head and explore the lived experiences that might drive her to make such a desperate choice.

Throw in a bunch of literal gods with their own agendas, an enemies-to-lovers romance, and several complex female friendships, and you’ve easily got one of the best fantasy books of the year. With the news that the book is getting a sequel, you’ve really got no excuse not to dive into this series ASAP. (You can thank me later, is what I’m saying.)  Don’t believe me? Well, you can see what the author herself has to say about her new fairytale retelling, its complex characters, and the message at its core.

Culturess interview: Margaret Owen talks Little Thieves

Culturess got the chance to chat with Owen herself about Little Thieves, what she’s working on next, and why young adult fiction is having such a moment right now.

Culturess: I have loved everything you’ve written, but Little Thieves may just be my favorite yet. Tell me a little bit about how this story came into being. 

Margaret Owen: Thank you so much! After I turned in The Faithless Hawk, I had one more standalone book left to write to fulfill my contract, and I needed a break from the world of The Merciful Crow. I also had been nursing an idea for a story about a con artist who was cursed to do good deeds and found herself very bad at them.

I also was very interested in stories about “socialite” scammers like Anna Delvey/Sorokin, who use illusions of fortune and status to grift the wealthy.

Culturess: I love that this is technically a fairytale retelling, but not one that’s a carbon copy of the original story. What made you want to pick apart “The Goose Girl” and refashion it into something that has similar bones but is otherwise an extremely different tale?

Owen: Something that’s stuck out to me about “The Goose Girl” is that, in the original tale, the evil maid forces the princess to trade places with her through plain old bullying—and it works. All it takes is trading clothes and horses, and no one is the wiser.

Fairytales put a lot of stock in dated concepts like the inherent virtue of noble birth, so a commoner successfully impersonating a princess is a rather radical concept. On the other hand… the maid dies terribly for this crime, because how dare she presume she has the same worth as royalty?

And, most poignant of all: her first great act of villainy in the original tale is… to quit. Followed by forcing the princess to experience the maid’s lived reality as a servant. We’re supposed to feel bad for the princess who is forced to wear the maid’s shoddy clothing and ride her nag—but not ask why that was okay for the maid? Sorry! I write for Gen Z!

Culturess:  I love Vanja so much. She’s hilarious, but also kind of awful, and completely selfish, but also just so desperately afraid of not being in control of her own life. What drew you to this particular protagonist?

Owen: I think a lot of Gen Z and Millennial readers know exactly what it’s like to work in a bad or outright abusive environment, and not be able to leave! I wanted to explore some of my own reactions to getting out of that kind of workplace—the gallows humor left over from working there, the resentment towards work I used to not mind, and the determination to not go back.

Culturess: What do you hope readers respond to most about/in Vanja’s journey?

Owen: I made Vanja to be as much of a foil as possible to the quintessential fairytale princess—she’s not pretty, not royal, she can’t sing up a flock of birds to do unsettlingly skilled labor. She’s lonely (but self-isolated), mean (but deeply wounded), and disloyal (to those who exploited her.) And I wrote her this way because I think it’s important to acknowledge how all of those can be trauma responses, and those scars don’t make you any less deserving of love, success, or a happily ever after.

Culturess: The female friendship – and anger, and betrayal, and eventually, sort of reconciliation – between Gisele and Vanja feels so rich and lived in and realistic. There aren’t any easy answers or quick forgiveness on either side because that’s not how life works. Can you tell me a little bit about how you approached crafting their dynamic?

Owen: There have been some great discussions recently about how, in a multi-sibling family, the eldest daughter tends to be deputized as a secondary mother figure, taking care of siblings and picking up chores.

I channeled that into Vanja and Gisele’s relationship—even though there isn’t a huge age difference between them, Vanja was, due to her status as a maid, always held responsible for Gisele. Gisele is oblivious to the fact that her own mostly-carefree childhood has come at the cost of Vanja’s; in Little Thieves, she’s coming to terms with the reality that even though she once thought of Vanja as a friend, she was raised to never see her as an equal.

Culturess: I really like the class issues that Little Thieves delves into – it’s something we don’t see a ton of in YA fiction, and I wish that weren’t the case – what message do you hope readers take from that aspect of the story?

Owen: Coming off of the last question, I hope readers are prompted to question the effect power, class, desirability, and wealth have on whether a trait is seen as good or bad.

We assume that just because someone has those things, their motives and actions are unimpeachable, when in fact the reality is a lot of people attain power through extremely impeachable actions. And conversely, poverty and hardship tend to be ascribed to personal faults, rather than the reality that we live in a system that actively pressures people to take on debt, makes it very difficult to get out of it, and punishes them when they do.

Culturess: How was the experience of writing this story different from The Merciful Crow?

Owen: I wrote it as a standalone, so even though we’ve announced the sequels, the drafting process was much more freewheeling—I didn’t have to worry about laying the groundwork for the next book.

If I liked the idea, I could just chuck it in there, no worries! I’m typically a very strict outliner, so it was very refreshing.

Culturess: Why do you think YA as a genre – specifically YA fantasy – is having such a moment right now?

I think we’re at a very transformative time as a society, and a lot of the ideas that are part of the common cultural lexicon now were being introduced and championed by young adults three, four years ago.

There’s a reason another term for SFF is Speculative Fiction: It asks the question, What if the world was this way? We’re speculating what different possibilities could look like—a society navigating advanced climate change, a world where queer identities are simply the norm, a magical quest centering people of color. Staying relevant in YA means staying in touch with the issues that matter to young adults, and that means staying ahead of the curve.

Culturess: I feel like a lot of the “big name” YA authors are also dipping their toes into adult fantasy these days. Is that a path you see for yourself – or does it matter the “genre” for you if the story you want to tell feels right?

Owen: I definitely have some stories that are better suited to some age ranges than others! But I do think it would be fun to write adult fantasy, if for no other reason than my greatest editorial flaws are that I swear like a sailor and get longwinded, and adult fantasy seems to be much more forgiving of both of those things.

Culturess: What’s next for you as an author? Little Thieves 2? Something else? Both?

Owen: I’m working on Little Thieves 2 right now, which is currently titled Painted Devils. It involves accidental cults, awkward road trips, and virgin sacrifices (except, mild spoilers, we’re taking a big swan dive into “virginity is a construct.”) It’s a great time for everyone! Well, some people. Maybe.

Culturess: What are you reading right now? My TBR pile is out of control at the moment but I always want to know what people whose taste I admire are reading.

Owen: I’m always horrifyingly behind on my TBR, but I did just finish the outstanding Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson, which is every bit as fun as it sounds. I’m also looking forward to picking up Only A Monster by Vanessa Len!

Owen’s latest novel, Little Thieves, is available now wherever books are sold. (But support your local independent bookstore when you can!)