Ibbotson has said she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted her husband, a former naturalist who had just died; the book had been in her head for years.
Ibbotson has said that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. She wrote "Journey" in honour of her husband, a former naturalist who had just died; the book had been in her head for years.