Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
Every author has that one novel–the one cherished above all others, the one that makes her think, If I never write anything else, that’s okay, because I wrote this. I’ve written eight books, and while each is special in its own way, the fourth one is the book of my heart.
The House on Linden Way began as a short story in the summer of 2017. I was waiting for a car repair and began sketching out an idea for a haunted house story. The house would be the main character’s childhood home, which she was revisiting for the first time in many years. When her young daughter vanishes inside, the mother tries searching for her but keeps getting trapped in memories. I soon realized I had a book on my hands, and when it was finished nearly two years later I wrote the following query:
While passing through her hometown a decade after she left, Amber Blake impulsively revisits her old house on Linden Way. She only means to stay a moment, to show her three-year-old daughter Bee the place where she grew up. But when the kindly new owners invite them inside, Amber cannot resist.
Soon Bee is missing, the owners have disappeared, and Amber finds herself in a houseful of ghosts. Time takes on new meaning as she loses herself in living memories and a past that does not wish to be forgotten.
As Amber fights the powerful lure of a childhood she’d long left behind, her tenuous hold on the real world slips further from her grasp. Is it merely nostalgia she’s battling, or something far more menacing? Who haunts the house on Linden Way, and where are they hiding her child?
When I began Linden Way, I didn’t know yet who or what was haunting the house. Like many of my stories, I’d imagined something sinister and evil and ended up with something more complex. What I did know was that I wanted to write a story about the trappings of nostalgia and the lifelong imprint of our childhood homes.
The book is personal because it includes so many things that are important to me, including the power of sibling bonds, the bittersweet memories of growing up, and the fierce strength of motherhood. It is unequivocally the book of my heart, and I’m thrilled to begin publishing it today on Kindle Vella. Read the first chapter here, and follow the story as new chapters will publish every Tuesday and Thursday from now until June. Enjoy!
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