Narnia

I'm not sure how old I was the first time I read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It was in one of two box sets of books I had been given as a baby. I had the white set of the Narnia books, still in the original publication order, and a blue box of the Little House on the Prairie books. Both sets rested on the highest shelf of my bookshelf for ages before I was considered mature enough to read them. 
My mother wasn't worried about the content, only that I might not take good enough care of the books. I was, in general, allowed to read anything I could put my sticky little paws on. My mother trusted that if I was confused about something, I would ask. But those two sets of books were very nice and so they remained tantalizingly out of my reach until such a time as I had finally proved myself worthy. 
As soon as I got my hands on the Narnia books I saw myself in Lucy. I had no siblings, but there were plenty of people in my life who had treated me like Edmund did. I longed for a Mr. Tumnus to take me to tea, a White Witch to fight against, and an Aslan to help me set things to rights. I wanted to be a queen in Narnia and sit on the throne in Cair Paravel. I wanted the animals to talk to me and for Christmas to finally come! 
The White Queen, Jadis, was always, much more than any other villain in the series, a towering figure of menace, but also of elegance. The first time she slid onto the page in her sled wrapped in furs with her malicious box of Turkish delight she captured something in my imagination. When I was casting around for a new project my best friend reminded me of how much I love her and I put together the bead mix that became the Jadis necklace.