Jamie Pacton

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Adam Pacton

A close-up of Jamie Pacton.

Jamie Pacton

Verona-based author Jamie Pacton's YA fantasy debut, The Vermilion Emporium, was published in November. And while the story about two misfits who discover the deadly secret to weaving lace from starlight inside a magical curiosity shop takes place in the fictional city of Severon, it has very real roots in south-central Wisconsin. In 2018, Pacton found herself inside a now-closed women’s clothing and consignment store in Fort Atkinson called The Vermilion Emporium. “It was such a delightful and incongruous name for a shop in this little rural town that it stuck with me,” she says. "I started daydreaming about a magical curiosity shop with the same name, and that magical shop became the heart of my story and the title of my book.”

media release: The Radium Girls meets the enchanting world of Howl’s Moving Castle, The Vermilion Emporium is a story of timeless love. It’s about healing in a world shrouded with despair and discovering a spark of magic when you need it most.

On the morning Twain, a lonely boy with a knack for danger, discovers a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside of Severon, a mysterious curiosity shop appears in town. Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, chases rumors of the shop, the Vermilion Emporium, desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy. 

When Quinta meets Twain outside of the Emporium, two things happen: One, Quinta is sure she’s infatuated with this starlight boy, who uses his charm to hide his scars. Two, they enter the store and discover a book that teaches them how to weave starlight into lace.

Soon, their lace catches the eye of the Casorina, the ruler of Severon. She commissions Quinta and Twain to make her a starlight dress and will reward them handsomely enough to make their dreams come true. However, they can’t sew a dress without more material, and the secret to starlight’s origins has been lost for decades. As Quinta and Twain search the Emporium for answers, though, they discover the secret might not have actually been lost—but destroyed. And likely, for good reason.

Jamie Pacton is an award-nominated young adult and middle grade author, who writes swoony, funny, magical books across genres. The Vermilion Emporium is her YA fantasy debut. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching college English, obsessively reading obscure history, hiking, baking, or playing video games. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly is her Young Adult debut and her sophomore novel, Lucky Girl, released from Page Street in May 2021.