by Hester Fox
Genre: Adult Historical Fantasy Fiction (YA Friendly)
Release Date: October 2nd 2018
Graydon House Books (Harlequin)
Summary
Two centuries after the Salem witch trials, there’s still one witch left in Massachusetts. But she doesn’t even know it.
Take this as a warning: if you are not able or willing to control yourself, it will not only be you who suffers the consequences, but those around you, as well.
New Oldbury, 1821
In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall.
The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline.
All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end…
Purchase The Witch of Willow Hall
Hello readers, I’m so
excited to share an excerpt with you from my upcoming debut novel, THE WITCH OF
WILLOW HALL (on-sale October 2, 2018). My name is Hester Fox, and hailing from
Boston, I’ve always been fascinated with the rich and oftentimes dark history
of this period. My novel takes place in a small New England town over 130 years
after the infamous Salem Witch trials, and features a Gothic, melancholy
atmosphere, restless
spirits, and of course, resilient women. I hope you enjoy this Witchy excerpt I’ve pulled for you.
Seated at the
table is a woman, or what used to be a woman. She sits as if she has every
right to be there, as if she has always been there. A veil covers her face, but
it is gauzy and threadbare, and I can see the contours of the features beneath.
Her dress is old, black as night yet opalescent as the moon through a cobweb. Paralyzed
with fear, I watch as it moves about her of its own accord, a
soft undulation as if she were underwater. And though I can see her as clear as
day, the veiled woman in our dining room, there’s a translucence to her, and
the panoramic wallpaper is just visible behind her. She is like nothing and no
one I have ever seen before, and yet she is familiar, as if I have always known
her.
“Come, child.”
Her voice comes from everywhere and nowhere, and when her words are finished, I
have the unnerving feeling that they weren’t spoken aloud at all, but came from
within my head.
She beckons me
with a knobby finger, more bone than flesh.
I can’t drag my
gaze away from her face, the sunken holes where there ought to be eyes, the
lipless mouth, all teeth and blackness. The cold pie that I just enjoyed churns
in my stomach and threatens to come up. She beckons me again, and I imagine
those long, terrible fingers closing around my neck and choking the life out of
me. I imagine them raking me across the face until ribbons of skin flutter from
my skull. I stand my ground, unwilling to deliver myself up to her. She is the
stuff of my novels, a grotesque horror that titillates on the page, but sends
terror into my heart when in the same room as me.
She gives
something like a grunt, and as if able to read my thoughts, says, “One hundred
and thirty years of death is not gentle on a body. Come, do not gawk.” I dare
not disobey her, so I force my leaden feet to move a few steps closer.
The smell of
decay and death fills the room, sickly sweet and putrid at the same time. My
throat is tight, my mouth cotton, but somehow I’m able to gasp out, “W-who are
you?”
She makes a
noise, something between a snort and a laugh, a scraping, rattling sound,
though it’s devoid of humor. “Do you not know your own forebear?”
The blackness of
her dress curls around her like a snake, but she sits as motionless as if she
were carved of stone. Her stillness is suffocating, it dares the house to be
silent, and punishes the sunlight for filtering in through the window.
Warily, I come
to a halt at the edge of the dining room table. I don’t know what she’s talking
about. “Forebear?”
“Have you not
looked upon me since you were a babe? Do you not recognize in me what flows
through you?”
“I…” But then it
comes to me. The lace collar, though tattered and black as her dress, is
unmistakable around her neck. “You’re the woman in the painting. Mother’s
ancestor.”
The inclination
of her head is small, barely perceptible.
“I saw you in
the garden, when we first moved here. What do you want?”
That noise again
that might be an impatient snort or a laugh. “It was not me you saw. You
attract them. This is a haunted place and you attract the unhappy spirits that
call it home. They know what you are. Haven’t I been telling you that for these
two months past?”
You
attract them. My eyes widen at the familiar refrain,
the words that I had convinced myself were nothing more than a figment of my
imagination, though I saw them written in my mirror, and heard them on the
whispers of the breeze.
I can’t tear my
gaze away from her, yet I’m terrified that the veil will fall away, revealing
her face in more horrible detail. Before I can ask her what she thinks I am,
the voice comes again.
“You’ve been
asking questions. Your mother would do well to educate you.”
“Educate me?”
“Tch, ignorant
and incendiary. A dangerous combination. You might ask her for the book. It was
my mother’s. Yet look at the good it did me,” she says. At this, she lifts the
veil to her chin, revealing a crooked neck, one of the bones snapped clean
through. My hand flies to my mouth and I stifle a cry. She drops the veil back
into place. “That is what I got for my trouble.”
Despite the
pounding of my heart and the coiling of my stomach, her roundabout way of
speaking is wearing on my taut nerves. “Why are you here? Did you come just to
berate me? Are you a spirit come to try to frighten me away? Because that’s
what you are, isn’t it? A spirit?” As soon as my questions tumble out I brace
myself. What if I anger her?
But my barrage
of questions has no effect. “I have watched you since you were a little girl. I
have watched and waited, wondering when you would begin to open your eyes to
the world around you.”
The thought of
this creature watching me from the shadows makes me feel sick. “If you’ve been
watching me for so long, then why did you come now?”
She gives a sigh
that lifts the curtains and wilts the flowers on the table. “I will not waste
my breath on words you’re not ready to hear. I thought that this place would open your eyes,
but I see that I’ve come too soon.”
Frustration
overtakes fear. “But I am ready!
Something is happening here, to me. There’s something inside of me. You must
have come for a reason. I’ve heard your voice in the woods, seen your words on
my mirror! If you’ve come to say something to me, then just say it!”
She holds up a
single finger, silencing me. “Take this as a warning. If you are not able or
willing to control yourself, it will not only be you who suffers the
consequences, but those around you as well. If your mother will not educate
you, then you must seek out your own answers. You cannot protect yourself if
you do not know that of which you are capable.”
Hester comes to writing from a background in museum work and historical
archaeology. She loves the Gothic, the lurid, the dark...so long as the ending
is a happy one. Though she has never seen a ghost, she remains hopeful. She lives
outside of Boston with her husband and their two cats. THE WITCH OF WILLOW HALL
is her first novel. Visit her at HesterFox.com
Advance Praise
"Hester Fox's THE WITCH OF WILLOW HALL offers a fascinating location, a great plot with history and twists, and characters that live and breathe. I love the novel, and will be looking forward to all new works by this talented author!" --Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author
"Beautifully written, skillfully plotted, and filled with quiet terror, readers will devour this absorbing, Gothic tale of romance and suspense. Perfect for fans of Simone St James and Kate Morton." -- Anna Lee Huber, the national bestselling author of the historical Lady Darby Mysteries
"Beautifully written, with an intriguing plot full of suspense and mystery, The Witch of Willow Hall will cast a spell over every reader." -- Lisa Hall, author of Tell Me No Lies and Between You and Me
"I was entranced by this intriguing and spellbinding novel with its messages of love and loyalty and being true to who you really are. I hope Hester Fox goes on to write many more such novels--I for one will be buying them." -- Kathleen McGurl, author of The Girl from Ballymor
"With its sense of creeping menace and chilling undertones, this compelling story had me gripped from the first page. The vividly drawn characters cast their spell so convincingly, I couldn't stop reading until I discovered what happened to them. A wonderful debut novel.”--Linda Finlay, author of The Flower Seller
About the Author
Hester comes to writing from a background in museum work and historical archaeology. She loves the Gothic, the lurid, the dark...so long as the ending is a happy one. She has never seen a ghost, though she remains hopeful.Hester lives outside of Boston with her husband. THE WITCH OF WILLOW HALL is her first novel.
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