Meet Angela Legh
A love of magic.
A life that changed direction.
I write stories and resources that invite children and adults to explore emotions, compassion, and personal responsibility.
Discover the Bella books →
The beginnings
Where the magic began.
My love of fantasy began when my second-grade teacher read The Hobbit aloud. A story could open a door, and suddenly there was a whole world beyond the classroom.
Magic and difficult feelings both belonged to my early life. Years later, both would find their way into my writing.
What I came to understand.
At home, I was learning about another kind of world: the emotional world of a family living with a raging, alcoholic father.
My childhood was my first school for understanding emotions and emotional repression, though I would not recognize those lessons until adulthood.
The experiences that changed my direction
The question I could no longer leave unanswered.
In 2017, the Tubbs wildfire reduced my family’s home to ash.
We had lived there for 24 years. It was the home where my children grew up—a place woven into our lives over decades. Then it was gone.
The loss brought me into a dark night of the soul. I began questioning everything, including a question that reached beyond what the fire had taken:
Was I living the life I was meant to live?
The answer was a resounding no.
Recognizing that answer and acting on it were different things. It took another eight to ten months to work up the nerve to leave my toxic marriage. About eight months after that, I quit my government job and moved to England to write fairy tales.
That sentence is easy to write now. Living it meant making one consequential decision, then another, without having the whole next chapter in front of me.
England, imagination, and a new chapter
Making room for the stories.
In the English countryside, my imagination had landscapes to wander through. Walking the hills of the Cotswolds, I imagined dragons overhead, fairies among the wildflowers, and magical realms just beyond sight.
The child who had loved being carried into a story was becoming the woman who would write one.
Alongside that magic came the questions I had been learning to ask about emotions: what we allow ourselves to feel, what we learn to repress, and how those lessons shape our choices and relationships. Those questions belong beneath the adventures in Bella’s world.
I have since returned to the US, landing in Taos, New Mexico, where I continue to write.
The Bella Santini Chronicles
Why I write these stories.
What if a story could open a conversation about a feeling that is difficult to name?
Through Bella’s adventures, I invite readers to explore belonging, compassion, choices, and the emotional world beneath behavior.
There is magic in the fairy realms I imagine. There is also much to explore in the lives we are already living—in our feelings, our relationships, and the choices still open to us.
Step into Bella’s world →
The work continues.
Books
Fantasy adventures with space to explore feelings, friendships, and the choices that shape a story.
Explore the books →Articles & resources
Ideas for parents, educators, and anyone interested in understanding children’s emotional lives.
Read the blog →Speaking
Conversations and school programs exploring emotional awareness, empathy, and connection.
Explore speaking →An invitation
Let’s keep the conversation going.
Explore a story, follow a question, or connect about bringing a conversation to your school or community.
A little more about my work
Frequently asked questions.
Who is Angela Legh?
Angela Legh is an author, speaker, and emotional resilience advocate based in Taos, New Mexico. She writes The Bella Santini Chronicles and creates articles, resources, and school programs that invite children and adults to explore emotions, compassion, and personal responsibility.
What is emotional resilience?
Emotional resilience is the capacity to navigate difficult feelings and experiences, adapt to challenges, and find a way forward over time. It can involve recognizing emotions, seeking support, and developing ways to respond with awareness and care. Angela explores these themes through her stories, articles, and speaking.
What are The Bella Santini Chronicles about?
The Bella Santini Chronicles is a middle-grade fantasy series filled with fairy realms, dragons, unexpected friendships, and difficult choices. Alongside the adventures, readers encounter questions about belonging, self-worth, compassion, emotional awareness, and responsibility.