The Fate of Mercy Alban (39 page)
Read The Fate of Mercy Alban Online
Authors: Wendy Webb
8.
Did you like the way that Wendy Webb wrote and included entire chapters from David Coleville’s lost, last novel? Did you like the parallel story? What did it add in terms of plot development and the tone of the novel? Discuss the ways in which those passages could have been used to a greater or lesser extent—and what they could have revealed to the reader that the original storyline, narrated by Grace, could not.
9.
Most of the mysteries in the novel become reconciled or are explained by the end of the book, but others—Mercy’s “reanimation” by her mother and grandmother, or Johnny’s ghostly visit to Grace and Amity, for instance—are not explained as easily. Discuss how appealing you find this particular kind of novel—one that mixes the more realistic and gritty mystery novel with the gothic and supernatural romance. What does the novel gain by employing the elements of two different genres? What, if anything, does it lose?
10.
By the end of the novel, Grace discovers that Jane and her husband, Mr. Jameson, as well as the chauffeur, Carter, all knew more about the day David Coleville died (and the Alban family) than they’d admitted to previously. Discuss your reaction when you read their confessions to Grace in Chapter 40, and in particular to Jane’s confirmation that Harris was Adele and David’s child. Was the ending of the book satisfying, or did it feel too neat? In the mystery novels you read, do you prefer to know everything by the story’s end, or do you like to have a few unanswered questions remaining?
Q:
The epilogue to
The Fate of Mercy Alban
suggests that the Alban family is not entirely safe and/or finally at peace. Do you intend to write a sequel to this book that focuses on Amity and her discovery of her great-great-grandmother’s book of spells? As this is your second novel, have you considered publishing novels within a series? What do you like (or not like) about the idea of writing a sequence of related or interconnected mystery novels?
A:
So far, I’ve written standalone novels, but they all follow the same basic themes. Family secrets and mysteries, a touch of the paranormal—ghosts floating around every corner or witches perched on the family tree; a big, spooky house where lots of skeletons lurk; a strong heroine who is plunged into a life-altering mystery; and a great guy who supports her as she navigates it all. So whether I write a sequel or a standalone, it will follow those themes.
Q:
Before you began publishing novels you spent many years as a journalist in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. What did the profession of journalism teach you about writing and research that has been useful to you as an author of fiction?
A:
Mainly, the discipline of the craft. I’m still a journalist when I’m not writing novels, and that means I write every day of my life. I’ve heard some authors say how difficult the writing process is, but for me, I’ve been writing every day for twenty-plus years, so it comes as naturally to me as breathing. That’s the upside. The downside is that writing a magazine article is very different from writing novel. As a journalist, you tell a story. This happened, then this, then that, and, ultimately, this. As a novelist, you must show it. You can’t simply say
Grace is angry
; you must show the reader she’s angry. It took a long time for me to learn how to do that because I’d been a journalist for so long.
Q:
Who are your own favorite authors, writers of mystery and otherwise? What have you learned about writing from reading other novels? Who do you read for inspiration?
A:
I have lots of favorite authors. I love M. J. Rose, Stephanie Pintoff, Katherine Howe, Sarah Waters, S. J. Bolton, Steve Berry, Dan Brown. My favorite mystery series is by Louise Penny, who writes the Armand Gamache novels set in a small town in Quebec.
Q:
Do you see yourself continuing to write mystery novels, or do you think you’ll attempt a different genre? What do you find appealing about the
act
of writing a mystery novel? In what ways is it rewarding, and in what ways is it frustrating?
A:
A very wise woman—my agent—once told me to think long and hard about the type of books I wanted to write, because if the first one was a success, I could be writing in the same genre for my whole career. I did think about it quite a lot, because I read and love all types of novels—whodunits, police crime stories, thrillers, women’s fiction, historicals, young adult fantasy—but I settled on gothic suspense because that’s where my real passion lies. And now that I have two successful novels under my belt, I feel I owe it to my readers to give them what they expect when they purchase one of my books. As a reader, I’d be very disappointed to pick up a new book by Jodi Picoult and find that it’s a bodice-ripping romance, or dive into a new Fanny Flagg and find that it’s horror. I never want to disappoint a reader. Not that novelists have to remain forever shackled to the genre of their first book, but personally, I just don’t want to stray too terribly far away. That said, I’d love to write a series mystery someday about a small town and the strange and eerie things that go on there, so we’ll see what the future brings.
Q:
Are you working on a new novel? What is it about? When should we expect to see it in bookstores?
A:
I am indeed! It’s the story of a woman who takes a job as a companion for a mysterious and rather eccentric novelist whom the entire world thinks is dead, set at Havenwood, an enormous, ancient mansion in the middle of the wilderness. As our heroine delves into the mystery of why this novelist dropped out of sight and stopped writing, she finds strange and unsettling connections to her own family tree and wonders why she was really brought to Havenwood. It should come out next year. Stay tuned!
Wendy Webb
is the author of
The Tale of Halcyon Crane
, the 2011 winner of the Minnesota Book Award for genre fiction, a Midwest Connections Pick from the Midwest Booksellers Association, and a Great Lakes, Great Reads Pick from the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota.
A
LSO BY
W
ENDY
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EBB
The Tale of the Halcyon Crane
Copyright © 2013 Wendy Webb
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information address Hyperion, 1500 Broadway, New York, New York, 10036.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the original print edition of this book as follows:
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Webb, Wendy.
The fate of Mercy Alban/Wendy Webb.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4013-4193-0
1. Single mothers—Fiction. 2. Family secrets—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.E3926F38 2013
813'.6—dc23
2012027376
eBook Edition ISBN: 978-1-4013-4289-0
Hyperion books are available for special promotions and premiums. For details, contact the HarperCollins Special Markets Department in the New York office at 212-207-7528, fax 212-207-7222, or email [email protected].
Cover design by Laura Klynstra
Cover photograph by Plainpicture/Whatapicture
Author photograph © Steve Burmeister
First eBook Edition
Original paperback edition printed in the United States of America.
Grace Alban has spent more than twenty years avoiding her childhood home, the stately Alban House on the shores of Lake Superior, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother’s unexpected death brings Grace and her teenage daughter back, she finds more is haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.
Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters, and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace’s aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years. Her mother intended to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died—could it have been murder? Or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? Grace soon realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the mansion’s secret passages.
With the help of the disarmingly kind—and attractive—Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.