Wrede graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in biology and obtained an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977. She finished her first book in 1978 while working as an accountant and financial analyst. She was a founding member of The Scribblies, along with Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust and Nate Bucklin, in January 1980, "to which belonged for five extremely productive years." She sold her first book to Ace in April 1980 and it was published in 1982. In the fall of 1980, Wrede met Lillian Stewart Carl, who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold. In 1985, shortly before her fifth book was published, she became a full-time writer. She is a member of the Liavek shared-world anthology. In 2009, Wrede donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University. Lois McMaster Bujold credits the support of Wrede and Lillian Stewart Carl for allowing Bujold to finish her first novel: "These friendships were lifelines in every sense".
Personal life
She was born in Chicago, IL on March 27, 1953 to David Merrill and Monica Marie Collins. She is the eldest of five siblings. As a child, Wrede was a voracious reader and recalls "I don't think I ever read anything only once." She loved to tell stories to her family and friends and began writing in the seventh grade with much support from her parents. Patricia and James Wrede were married in 1976; they divorced in 1991. She is a vegetarian and lives in the Twin Cities with two cats.
Books
Lyra
These books share a common setting on a world named Lyra, and are listed here in order of publication. As the books are only loosely connected, they may be read in any order, though order of publication is probably preferable.
Shadow Magic
Daughter of Witches
The Harp of Imach Thyssel
Caught in Crystal
The Raven Ring
Shadows over Lyra
The actual chronological order of the books is Caught in Crystal, The Raven Ring, Shadow Magic, Daughter of Witches, and The Harp of Imach Thyssel. The last three are set in the same time period but different nations while the first two are spaced widely apart chronologically and happen well before the events of the last three. A timeline and short world history at the end of Shadows over Lyra ties everything together and answers a lot of questions. The omnibus edition of Shadow Magic is a revised one; the writing is significantly different from that in the original, and reflects her greater experience as a writer. It seems that Wrede rewrote the story for the omnibus, but this is not actually noted anywhere in the book itself.
This series features Princess Cimorene, as she becomes a dragon's princess, rescues said dragon, falls in love, and ultimately saves the enchanted forest. It is usually marketed for young adults. The fourth book was written and published first, but is considered to properly go last in the series. The 1995 edition of Talking to Dragons is significantly different from the original 1985 edition, mostly to make it more consistent with the story in the other books.
Dealing with Dragons
Searching for Dragons
Calling on Dragons
Talking to Dragons
Cecelia and Kate
with Caroline Stevermer The authors tell these stories from the first-person perspectives of cousins Kate and Cecelia, who recount their adventures in magic and polite society. These works are unusual in modern fiction in being epistolary novels, written using the style of the letter game.
Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country
The Grand Tour or The Purloined Coronation Regalia: Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality
The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After: Being the Private Correspondence Between Two Prominent Families Regarding a Scandal Touching the Highest Levels of Government and the Security of the Realm
Magic Below Stairs was written by Caroline Stevermer alone, and is set in the same universe after The Grand Tour, but before The Mislaid Magician. It follows the character Frederick Lincoln as a child in the house of the Schofields.
- The first two books in this series were published in an omnibus edition, Magicians of Quality, in 2005.
Plot
At the beginning of the first book, Katherine Talgarth and her beautiful younger sister Georgina have been taken by their Aunt Charlotte Rushton from Rushton to London to experience part of the Season. Kate's parents, George Talgarth and Celia Rushton, have both died at least five years before. Kate's favorite cousin, Cecelia Rushton, has been left at home with her brother Oliver and their father, the antiquarian Arthur Rushton, at Rushton Manor. Oliver and Cecy's mother died when Cecy was quite young. Their father's other unmarried sister, Aunt Elizabeth Rushton, lives with them at Rushton Manor.
Magic and Malice
"Mairelon" is a gentleman wizard with unusual talents, and Kim is his streetwise protégée. Together, they foil plots and generally get into trouble. From a reference to the date being thirty years since the Terror, the novels take place about 1823, during the Regency era in its broader sense; however, the author has personally stated that the events of Magician's Ward take place in 1818.
Mairelon the Magician
Magician's Ward
The two novels have also been published in omnibus editions: in hardcover as Magic & Malice, and as trade paperback as A Matter of Magic .
Frontier Magic
A trilogy narrated by Eff Rothmer, the "thirteenth child" of the opening book title. Book One covers her childhood, from the age of five to shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Books Two and Three deal with an adult Eff's work as an explorer, scientist, and magician beyond the edge of the frontier.
The Seven Towers is a stand-alone fantasy novel. Snow White and Rose Red is a fairytale fantasy, being a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red" set in Elizabethan England, and including elements of the Thomas the Rhymer ballad as well.
