Karen Lawson

Karen Lawson is a Namesake from the story, The Red Shoes (originally written by Hans Christian Andersen). She has wooden prosthetic feet and still wears the magic shoes that forced her to cut off her own feet. Despite the trauma of her story, she remains devoted to Classical Music, and seems to be unique in her living around a lot of books (most Namesakes would not willingly choose this lifestyle).

Karen is a nexus through which Namesakes, Rippers, a Writer and a Skeleton Key interconnect. The Rippers were under orders to take her magic shoes and kill her. The Namesakes were under orders to bring her back to Calliope. The Writer knew her as a friendly library assistant, and the Skeleton Key thought she seemed familiar, and wound up swallowing her ghost. Here appearances are listed HERE.

Karen worked as a librarian in Toronto now that she has 'retired' from being a Namesake, and knew Elaine Crewe as a frequent patron. When she met Emma Crewe she seemed to be trying a little too hard to make friends, even inviting her out to listen to some classical music. Emma was more focused on picking up her little sister's slack in her reading assignment, and they parted ways. Almost immediately, Karen encountered the former Namesake-turned-traitor Bird, a Ripper. Bird murdered Karen and was taking off her magic shoes when Jack Wright came on the scene. After a brief bout of yelling, Bird incinerated Karen's body (and burned down the library).

Karen's ghost lingered as the library burned and Emma Crewe saw her, although Elaine and Ben did not. She tried to warn Emma of danger, yelling at her to run before 'they' saw who she really was. The trauma of having a ghost impale her triggered Emma's first portal as a Dorothy and she found herself in the Land of Oz.

We know little of Karen's life as a Namesake with Calliope. Alice Purcell was genuinely grief-stricken upon the news of her death. Jack Wright was under orders to find her, and determine if she was addicted to an illegal magical substance, and if she was being consumed by a ghost. If so, he was to eliminate her, quickly and painlessly. Bird did that for him. Karen's body was sent to Calliope's Montreal Bureau. Although she was no longer a Namesake, she was treated as one. Team Bulldozer found her apartment above ground floor, which raised disturbing questions about her magical addiction. She had an Earth Cat as a pet, which Alice Purcell could understand, and it was taken to a no-kill shelter. They found proof of Karen's infection/addiction under her bed: a box of cheap, enchanted trinkets from the Goblin Market. A strange conversation then passes between Jack and Alice: Karen was visibly infected at some undisclosed time, but Alice had hoped tracking her down would also lead them to more intel for Calliope.

The Red Shoes
This is a short, tragic story about a girl adopted out of poverty into wealth and privilege. She refuses to leave behind her beloved red shoes of her childhood, and her attachment to them leads to a curse, forcing her to dance nonstop. Even when her feet are cut off, they keep dancing inside the shoes. She is only freed by death.