In anticipation of The Seven Rings, I’m happy to share the Poole Family tree for your reference.
The Brides are in the Magenta blocks, the Poole family members are in the blue boxes and the pink boxes are spouses outside the Poole family.
If you would like to have this at hand while you read, click this link to a printable PDF: Poole Family Tree.
I’ll open the discussion thread first thing in the morning!
Laura
I’ve sensed a bit of anticipation for more news about The Mirror (book 2 in The Lost Bride Trilogy) — just a smidge of a sense. (Today I’m the Snarky Publicist.)
I’m so pleased to share the US/Canada cover reveal video and pre-order links — in addition to the official description. The international cover and links will follow in due time.
Here we go:
Isn’t it gorgeous???
Now the official description:
When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming, the music playing, are not figments of her imagination. In her dreams she sees glimpses of the past. In the present she finds portraits of brides. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets.
Then one night the mirror appears and Sonya glides through this looking glass, into the past–and sees a bride murdered on her wedding day, the circle of gold torn from her finger. It is a scene that will play out again and again–a centuries-old curse that must be broken–and a puzzle she must solve if there is any hope of breaking the curse.
Here are the US/Canada pre-order links. Please remember you access Audible and Kindle through the main Amazon link.
Turn the Page: https://bit.ly/49LRYC0
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3SXnWEB
BN: https://bit.ly/3UTCrvN
BAM: https://bit.ly/4bWPYsA
Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3uEhbje
Apple Books: https://apple.co/431jhGq
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3uPUqZs
Google Play: https://bit.ly/3STIeiA
Look for the excerpt later in the summer.
Laura
We’ve gotten a lot of comments (and complaints) on where Inheritance ended.
We expected them.
Expecting them didn’t and can’t change how I create a story, how I write a trilogy. (Poor Laura!)
Inheritance ended where it ended because it needed to. Creatively, for the individual story, for the trilogy, for the characters, that’s exactly how and where it needed to stop. I have reasons, and they’re good ones. I can’t share all of them as that would have to include spoilers for The Mirror.*
I have, always, looked at a trilogy as one big story in three parts. YMMV, but I’m the one writing them. Yes, at one time each book came out in six months, not a year.
But.
Those were paperbacks, smaller stories, and not as complex as what I’ve done since I had the idea for Chronicles Of The One in 2016. In those paperbacks I had six main characters who would couple up, one per book. The only resolution in those trilogies was the relationship. Technically, except for the relationship element, most of those also ended on a kind of cliffhanger. The storyline, the plot, the external conflict was NOT resolved until the last book.
It couldn’t be, or it wouldn’t be a trilogy.
I can’t and won’t write any faster than I write. My publisher schedules the books, and I write them to meet my publication deadline. After I finished Inheritance, I wrote the next Robb, the next stand-alone Roberts, the NEXT Robb, then started on the second book of the trilogy. I turned in the ms of The Mirror* in last month.
It must be read by my editor, then line edited—yes, line by line (and mistakes still happen). A cover must be created and approved. The managing editor must read, it must be proofread (and yes, mistakes still happen.) I have to read and proof the galleys (and yes, still mistakes slip through because we’re all human).
The book must be formatted, for print and electronic editions, the audio book must be produced, the book must be printed.
It’s a long, laborious process. It takes time.
I can’t write faster. The publisher can’t produce faster.
I can’t ask readers to stop asking me to write faster because that’s pointless. But it does amaze me that the demands keep coming. Writers are not machines. We’re human beings who have lives outside the work, who do the best we can do. I write every day, hours a day, and this is it, people. This is all I can do.
I love what I do, or I wouldn’t do so much of it, I wouldn’t sit at the keyboard hours a day, every day.
Frankly, writers aren’t obligated to meet reader demands (which vary anyway). We’re, to my mind, obligated to write the best book we can at that time. To, again to my mind, meet our deadlines barring illness or serious emergency. To listen to our editor if revisions, rewrites, changes are requested.
Now, as for the ending. It was not meant to be cruel as some have suggested. It was not the first time I’ve done this in a trilogy, as others have claimed. I did not just decide “done writing now” – which is, honestly, insulting.
It ended where it did because that’s what I planned, Because that event, that story thread, can and will weave through the next book—that’s the big story in three parts. Where it ended matters for the second book. Where the second book ends—and some will not be happy—will matter for the third and final.
These are creative decisions.
To paraphrase one of my favorite characters from Game of Thrones. This is what I do. I drink and I write stories. (Not at the same time!)
Many, many readers commented that they read the book in a day, within hours, stayed up half the night to finish. This is incredibly flattering. We write to pull readers into the story, engage them, entertain them, compel them to turn the next page. It’s incredibly gratifying to feel I succeeded.
But I can’t write as fast as you can read! What takes a reader hours takes me months, and then months more for the book to go through the editing and publishing process. This is the reality.
I’m sorry there are some who are upset or angry or disappointed. Surely not the goal. But I can’t tailor my writing process, my story telling, my schedule or the publisher’s to meet those demands and expectations.
I’m doing the best I can, each and every time. It may not be good enough to suit you, but it doesn’t change the fact it’s the best I can do.
Inheritance was incredibly hard work, and terrific fun to write. So was The Mirror*. So, I hope, will be the final book—not telling you the title yet, though I know it. I planned it because this is what I do.
It’s a trilogy—three parts. And though it’s also pointless, I’ll ask please, please, when the time comes, don’t ask me for a fourth book. The story will be told. Finished. Done.
I hope, sincerely, this explains some things, makes some aspects more clear.
And, I wish you all the very best of holiday seasons and happy, happy reading.
Nora
*(Laura note: yes that’s the title of Book 2. It will be in stores in late November 2024.)
…is now available on Spotify.
As I posted on Facebook: Music chosen from beyond plays a part in Inheritance (it’s not a spoiler, it’s in the cover copy). In the spirit of the holidays, we put together Clover’s Clever Playlist as a little gift for you this season. And to carry you along until book 2 is on shelves in November 2024. – Nora, Laura & Team Nora
Just follow this link and enjoy! Clover’s Clever Playlist
Laura
Inheritance is in stores today! The first book in The Lost Bride Trilogy sets the stage for what’s to come and this is the place to discuss.
First, the official description:
Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin brother he never knew about. When her uncle, Collin Poole, left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast, his will stipulates she must live in it for at least three years. With her engagement recently broken, her freelance business just getting off the ground, she sets off to find out why the boys were separated at birth.
Trey Doyle welcomes Sonya to sprawling clifftop manor. He acknowledges that yes, the place is haunted…but just a little. Sure enough, Sonya finds objects moved and music playing out of nowhere. She sees a painting by her father inexplicably hanging in her deceased uncle’s office, and a portrait of a woman named Astrid — Trey refers to her as “the first lost bride.” It’s becoming clear that Sonya has inherited far more than a house. She has inherited a centuries-old curse, and a puzzle to be solved if there is any hope of breaking it…
So…what did you think of Inheritance?
And remember, spoilers are very much ahead.
Laura
We’re officially 10 weeks away from the debut of Inheritance, book 1 in the Lost Bride Trilogy, and I thought it was time to share the excerpt.
Nora wrote about the Why of writing Inheritance a few weeks back in case you want to refresh your memory.
The official description of Inheritance reads:
1806: Astrid Poole sits in her bridal clothes, overwhelmed with happiness. But before her marriage can be consummated, she is murdered, and the circle of gold torn from her finger. Her last words are a promise to Collin never to leave him…
Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin he never knew about―and that her newly discovered uncle, Collin Poole, has left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast. And the will stipulates she must live in it for at least three years. Her engagement recently broken, she sets off to find out why the boys were separated at birth―and why it was all kept secret until a genealogy website brought it to light.
Trey, the young lawyer who greets her at the sprawling clifftop manor, notes Sonya’s unease―and acknowledges that yes, the place is haunted…but just a little. Sure enough, Sonya finds objects moved and music playing out of nowhere. She sees a painting by her father inexplicably hanging in her deceased uncle’s office, and a portrait of a woman named Astrid, whom the lawyer refers to as “the first lost bride.” It’s becoming clear that Sonya has inherited far more than a house. She has inherited a centuries-old curse, and a puzzle to be solved if there is any hope of breaking it…
I read this book back in March and LOVED it. Can’t wait until you get the chance to read it and we all discuss.
Enough of me, here’s the excerpt: The Inheritance.
Enjoy~
Laura
Note from Laura: Just as she did before the Chronicles of the One, Nora’s written a letter to explain the direction of her next trilogy: The Lost Bride Trilogy. I think you’re going to love this next adventure
Dear Readers,
When I think of hauntings, I first think of my maternal grandmother. I suppose this is because it was my earliest (that I remember) experience. Sweetheart, as we called her, lived with us for a number of years. I’m going to add sweet because I adored her—though it is NOT the first word that comes to mind when I think of her.
Tough, opinionated, funny, fey, acerbic, quick Irish temper all rank before I get to sweet. She had flaming red hair, and was quite the dish in her day. She was married five times (before I was born). Yes, I said five, and she didn’t keep any of them.
She had her own apartment in our house—bedroom, bath, living room with a fireplace, kitchenette. She read palms and loved watching the Roller Derby.
In the house where I grew up, we had a huge backyard, tons of fruit trees, a veg garden we worked in every summer. A good-sized front yard with a pussy willow tree sort of centered between the front and side walkways.
My father hated that tree. I have no idea why. My grandmother loved that tree. Also no idea. He would, periodically threaten to cut it down, and she’d bring the axe down on my father. The tree stayed.
One evening a week or two after Sweetheart passed, my father thought of that tree. I remember him saying: “Well, Eps is gone, (Eps was his nickname for her—something from a comic or cartoon), and I’m cutting that damn tree down tomorrow morning.”
And that night, it was hit by lightning, split cleanly in two and taken to the ground.
She just wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
She stayed in the house for some time, winding her cuckoo clock, closing doors, probably watching the Roller Derby or kibbitzing at the Friday night pinochle game at our dining room table. I know my mother felt her often, and it brought comfort—and amusement.
Since that first experience, I’ve had others. But then I live on a Civil War battlefield, so—to me—it would be odd if I hadn’t. Hearing battle drums in the middle of the night while walking a fretful baby, or some strange knocking when no one’s there. A child’s voice—and I admit this one creeped me—downstairs while I worked upstairs, alone in the house, calling for Mama. I did get my guts up to go down and look for her, but I wasn’t Mama, so she didn’t show herself to me.
And as it happens, I own a haunted inn. Now, some of you will say: Oh, please, Nora, the others were coincidence or imaginings. But I know what I know. So does the staff at Inn BoonsBoro, who often have to turn off showers in locked, empty rooms, or put some item back from where it mysteriously moved. Doors opening, doors closing, footsteps on the stairs. Many guests have had encounters while staying there. Our ghosts are, fortunately, benign. Playful, but benign. We even have a ghost cat who visits guests in their rooms often.
His name is Johnson.
Once a year, along with several girl pals, I spend a week at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. We book a house that’s attached to the hotel. The very first time I walked in, I thought: Oh, okay. We’re not alone here. All of my pals, plus my grandson Griffin, who goes with us, have had encounters. Oh, I could tell you stories. So I decided to.
When I thought about the theme of my next trilogy, I thought of old houses with history and spirit occupants.
Personally, I love haunted houses, (and, so far, I’ve been comfortable with those who walk there), so why not write about one?
My fictional one stands on the coast of Maine, a house—or manor as it’s called—the main character inherits from an uncle she didn’t know she had. I don’t want to get into the reasons why and spoil it, but the reasons worked for me.
This manor‘s not only haunted, but carries a two-hundred-year-old curse. As it’s in the Prologue, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say a woman was killed on her wedding day by an evil, jealous, crazy witch—who cursed the house, and subsequent brides.
A haunted house, a curse, doomed brides through the ages. Well, that checked a lot of boxes for me. Add a mystery to solve to break that curse, some romance, the not-at-all benign witch who haunts the place, and a bevy of other spirits, and more boxes checked.
I liked the idea of having my very rational-minded main character find herself in a completely irrational situation, and discovering her heritage, her family history, while she takes the risk f rebuilding her career. With bonus points for learning to trust her heart.
I had such fun writing Inheritance, the first book in The Lost Bride Trilogy.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, and all the things that go bump in the night.
Nora
Me again! You can preorder Inheritance from your favorite retailers. Please note that you access Kindle pre-orders through Amazon. ~Laura
Turn the Page: https://bit.ly/InheritanceTTP
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KGVeoY
BN: https://bit.ly/3IDPoCc
BAM: https://bit.ly/3xU5T8r
Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3xVFmrd
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3KHVLqJ
Kobo: https://bit.ly/41sCUWK
Google Play: https://bit.ly/3SCWD26
