Laurel Montrose
“The mountains taught me that the most powerful stories aren’t told—they’re lived, breathed, and felt in your bones until you have no choice but to share them. I write for those who’ve always sensed there’s more magic in this world than most folks are willing to see, and for the communities that have been holding that knowledge safe for generations. Every hedgewitch story is really a love letter to the places and people who refuse to let the old ways disappear entirely.”
Laurel Montrose grew up where the mist clings to ancient ridgelines and every holler holds stories older than memory. Raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, she learned early that magic isn’t something you find in books—it’s something you inherit from the land itself, passed down through generations who knew which plants heal, which stones hold power, and which winds carry warnings.
Her childhood was spent learning the difference between knowing about nature and knowing with nature, a distinction that shapes every page of her writing. In these mountains, where tradition and modernity dance an uneasy waltz, Laurel discovered that the most powerful magic often lives in the quiet moments: a grandmother’s hands teaching you to read weather patterns, the way morning light reveals which wildflowers opened overnight, or the sudden certainty that the mountain itself is listening.
Drawing from the rich storytelling tradition of Appalachia, where every family has at least one person who “just knows things,” Laurel writes for those caught between worlds—the ones who feel the old magic stirring in their blood but struggle to find where they belong in a rapidly changing world. Her stories honor the wisdom keepers of rural communities, while exploring what it means to claim your gifts when the modern world doesn’t have a place for hedge witches and root workers.
She is currently developing three series of YA novels: Wild Grimoires, Widdershins Found, and Whispers of the Hedgewitches. These series each explore themes of belonging, self-acceptance, and finding home in a world that has no place for those who don’t fit conventional expectations.
English