A terrifying tale of love, betrayal, and perverted justice. Alternating between the present and the past, the story is told of a witch burning that never made it into the history books. Not in Salem, Massachusetts, but in the unlikely little Cape Cod fishing village of Wellfleet. When Emily Jones, college professor of New England Colonial History settled into the old family farmhouse at Bound Brook Island Farm to enjoy her year-long sabbatical during which she planned to research her own Welsh roots and write a non-fiction book about one early family's place in the New England scene, in particular on isolated Cape Cod before it became a tourist Mecca, she could never have imagined the story awaiting her. (Wanting to be told by the victim.) Going back to the seventeenth century when the first family settlers arrived and took up farming, the story seemed simple. That is until she discoveed, just by chance, a sad and lonely headstone in the old town cemetery.The stone became, for her, a lodestone leading to a lost story so unbelievable and horrifying that it could only be a fiction invented by some early creative writer whose intention it had been to shock, perhaps settle an old family vendetta . Or so Emily thinks until her sister April arrives for the summer and begins to receive "messages" about a witch burning and much, much more. The summer is full of surprises, romance, and, above all, hidden and difficult to uncover mysteries perpetrated centuries ago when a handful of prominent citizens swore an oath to take their terrible secret to their graves. Mystery, history, ghosts, secrets and unforgettable characters will make this a story you will not soon forget.
About the Author: I wrote my first book at age fifteen, Love Letter to a Psychiatrist, sure that I could compete with French teen author Francoise Sagan. From there I went on to dreaming of an acting career on New York and London stages. I did three years of summer stock theatre on Cape Cod where I grew up and then, a year of community theatre in a Boston suburb as well as a few plays while studying at Emerson College, Boston. Next career path, journalism. Eleven years later, sick and tired of dumbing down my prized vocabulary, I moved on to writing for sailing and cruising magazines in the U.S. and Canada. Now, that was fun because we are dedicated sailors and cruisers. In fact, when we sold our antique house and art gallery (Yes, I was a painter of Maritime Narrative Americana Primitives for many years and my work is in private and public collections, including the Tokyo, Japan National Art Museum) an downsized to a 44' boat (our children have since called us "homeless") I threw myself fully into writing fiction. Because I have always loved British mysteries, and took a course in them when on a student exchange in England, that was my template. Now, with two cozy mystery series and a number of stand alone mysteries, plus historical middle reader books, illustrated children's, travel, art and rug hooking (right, I failed to mention my love of rug hooking. so check out my full color book of my rugs and my wool dyeing hints)I am loving my new career. I get up every morning and slip into the minds of my quirky characters and interesting locales ranging from Cape Cod to Nantucket Island, Provence, France and Puerto Rico (I never write about a place I have not visited or lived) and my personal bliss. My other areas of bliss these days are cooking and baking and my granddaughter. Hope you will read my books and send me compliments, complaints, critiques and suggestions. Happy Reading. Cynthia