She was created by the gods as a gift to humanity. Then there was the urn.

Pandora, the first woman on Earth, was endowed with many gifts: beauty, intelligence, domesticity, and curiosity. She was at once lover, sympathiser and nurturer. Zeus presented an urn as her wedding dowry. Neither she nor her husband, Epimethos knew what it contained inside, and Hermes, the Messenger, warned them never to open it.

So the story goes… according to Grandpa.

Two precocious children visit their grandfather and beg him to tell a story. It wasn’t ‘on a dark and stormy night’ or ‘once upon a time’ type of story either.

What genre is it?
Historical Fantasy

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Readers with an interest in mythology and ancient history will enjoy the story. It is a retell of an old story.

Remind us who Pandora was again.
Pandora the first woman created by the gods. Each god gifts her with elements of themselves. She is an intriguing character, as she epitomises the best and worst of human behaviour but also the nature of the gods.

Why a book about her, though?
The story forms a part of a series, Accursed Women, and idea that came to me late last year. I wanted to write about women from mythology, real or not, whose image has been tainted. Tell their story about the events as they saw it.

What other stories are there in the series?
I’ve written three other short stories as part of the Accursed Women
series: Aphrodite’s Curse, The Curse of Troy and A Goddess’ Curse. A fifth story will complete the series and released soon titles: Cursed by Treachery.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love Boxed in a Curse.
If you like stories by David Gemmell, Sara Douglass and Mary Renault, you’ll love my book.

Tell us about yourself.

Luciana Cavallaro grew up in a small country town in Western Australia. She began writing as a cathartic exercise after a traumatic car accident. She moved to Perth to study teaching at university. Luciana is the first in her family to attain a university degree. Since then she has attended writers’ workshops and is a member of various associations.

Luciana has always been interested in Mythology and Ancient History but her passion wasn’t realised until seeing the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. From then on, her inspiration to write Historical Fantasy was borne.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://www.luccav.com/

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@ClucianaLuciana

What’s next?
I am reworking my novel and hope to publish it early next year.