Shadows in the Kingdom of Zaratan

July 22, 2020

No one ever listens to 11 year old Marina Bella. Frustrated with her teenage siblings, Marina finds herself alone a lot until she is unexpectedly visited by a majestic flying unicorn. The beautiful creature whisks Marina to the magical Kingdom of Zaratan.

There, the menacing Wolf Wizard has put the king and queen under a deep freeze spell and has control over the kingdom. He is on a relentless sinister mission and Marina is in his way. She will need the help of her new friends - farmers, fairies, and wizards - to help the kingdom and find her way home. Not succeeding could leave Marina stranded in Zaratan forever. What secrets of the past will Marina discover, and will she ever be able to go home?

The Story Behind the Making of Shadows in the Kingdom of Zaratan

Writing has always been a big part of Josephine Camacho's life, whether writing songs, poetry, or short stories, she always found herself writing. After a year-long battle with breast cancer and surviving, she found renewed enthusiasm, and decided to tackle a life-long goal - to complete a novel. ​Josephine had begun many novels in her life, but she never finished them. The stories would go stale and retire to her bookshelf, never to be read. This changed when she discovered an unbelievably wonderful resource called, "Save the Cat Writes a Novel." This book was the missing tool that she needed to complete her first novel.

One night, she sat with her youngest daughter, Marina, age 7, and read a simple elementary fantasy chapter book to her. It was cute, but lacked depth. Josephine asked her daughter, "If you could read about anything in the world, what would you want to read about?" Marina replied, "I would want to read a story about a unicorn with rainbow hair that flies." The premise was born. Josephine was on a mission to create a story that would capture the imagination of her daughter Marina, and of children everywhere.