THE ZOOKEEPER’S DRAGON received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Carolyn Mathews:
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The Zookeeper’s Dragon, Nov 2025
What’s the book’s first line?
“The morning the letter came, he didn’t see it, even though Sapphire had picked it up off the doormat and propped it against a pot of marmalade on the kitchen table.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Having recently inherited a zoo, and lost his girlfriend in the process, Phil is stunned when an enormous egg, discovered by his uncle in a far-flung cave, contains a creature impossible to classify. With his parrot, Saffy, taking over mama duties, Phil strives to keep the hatchling from prying eyes. Life becomes more complicated when an attractive zoo employee, who, by chance, was present at the birth, takes an increasingly greater interest in the newborn. Events take a positive turn when his uncle recruits a clairvoyant lady friend to guide them down a mystical route, to ensure the young dragon’s survival. An attempt to rehome him, however, entails a journey which could lead them all into danger.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
This book was predicted by a psychic in 2022. It was supposed to carry a ‘message’. When you read it, you can maybe guess what that message is.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Let me quote an Amazon reviewer: ‘What stands out the most is that this book focuses more on personal growth, human connection, and second chances . . . I think this setting was perfect for the core themes to unfold; allowing moments of change and connection to develop in a gentle and believable way.’
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who—real or fictional—would you say the character reminds you of?
Phil, the main character, is a former work-hard, play-hard city banker in his early thirties, who’d been forced to settle for rural life a year earlier, so his recently widowed mother could keep the zoo his father had created. Sadly, Phil’s artist girlfriend wasn’t prepared to make the same sacrifice, so the Phil we see early in the book is a rather lonely figure. The British actor Henry Cavill, with his blue eyes and dark hair, would be a good fit to play him.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
This is my fifth book. I started with a trilogy about a woman called Pandora, whose husband had recently died. It begins with her trying to contact him at a seance and continues on until . . . but I can’t tell you any more in case you ever want to read it. My fourth book was partly set in ancient Greece. Every book requires research, which I always enjoy.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I used to be a teacher. Maybe that’s why I like my writing to carry ‘messages’ of benefit to the reader. The other day, I came across a dissertation I’d written for my MA in Applied Linguistics. It was entitled: ‘Neuro-Linguistic Programming in English Language Teaching’. Learning activities tend to be linear and left-brain oriented, whereas NLP practitioners seek to integrate both sides. In language learning that would be achieved, for example, by audiovisual aids and language games. Do you ever wonder what happens to the brain when it reads? If you Google that question, you’ll find the answer quite interesting.