The Phoenix Keeper

S. A. MacLean writes fantasy the way a naturalist might tell a campfire story, equal parts wonder, warmth, and quiet reverence for the wild. Her debut novel, The Phoenix Keeper, swept onto the Sunday Times bestseller list by inviting readers into a magical zoo where phoenixes blaze, griffins preen, and the smallest acts of care matter just as much as sweeping adventures. It is fantasy written with tenderness, infused with queer romance, sly humor, and a deep love for creatures both real and imagined.

MacLean’s path to writing was anything but ordinary. Raised in Southern California, she spent her childhood concocting “mud potions” in the garden before pursuing a PhD in environmental science. Years of fieldwork, from dodging territorial seagulls to trudging through mud and watching ecosystems shift beneath her feet, shaped the way she sees the world. Those experiences now echo in her fiction, where fragile habitats and endangered species take on magical form, and where a heroine’s private struggles can feel as momentous as saving a kingdom.

Her stories are often described as cozy fantasy, yet the coziness does not come from the absence of stakes. Instead, it comes from the intimacy of those stakes: the fate of a single phoenix, the bonds of found family, the courage to hold on when the world feels too loud. With wit, empathy, and an eye for the enchanting oddities of life, MacLean creates books that feel like both a refuge and an adventure.

When she is not writing, she teaches, tends to her cats Monty and Perry, and dreams up new tales where love, laughter, and a little chaos walk hand in hand. For readers who long for fantasy that is at once gentle and fierce, her work offers a world worth stepping into.