The Author

Victoria Auberon

When author and self-taught illustrator Victoria Auberon was four, her father, a British Explorer, took her to live in Baja California. Her first contact with peoples of Toltec heritage began with stories told to her by an Indian nursemaid. From age thirteen to fifteen, Daphne spent three years camping on the uninhabited island of Cerralvo in the Sea of Cortez. The tint from the brilliant red beans produced by the coral trees growing on the stark desert island provided inspiration for The Ghost Tree and its magic beans.