I’m thrilled to reveal the cover art for the Knopf Canada edition of The Witches of New York. The wonderful Kelly Hill at Penguin Random House Canada has done a spectacular job with the design and I couldn’t be happier with it! It’s a perfect marriage of history, magic, mystery and the obscure. When we get closer to the publication date (November 1st, 2016) I’ll explain more about the cover’s details, but for now I’ll just say that it holds a few clues and secrets that are tied to the plot. (I can’t tell you how hard it is for me …
Category: New York City history
It was my father who gave me my name. Mama said it came to him at a place called Pear Tree Corner – “whispered by a tree so old it knew all the secrets of New York.” The apothecary who owned the storefront there told my father that he could ask the tree any question he liked and if he listened hard enough it would answer. My father believed him. – from The Virgin Cure New York Minute # 3 – Pear Tree Corner Several readers of my novel, The Virgin Cure have recently asked, “Was there really a Pear …
New York Minute #2 – The Amazing Moth Girl (or, “Crazy Canadian writer girl catches a moth in Manhattan.”) This post is part of my ongoing feature New York Minutes. To see the other posts in the series, click on the “New York Minute” category in the sidebar labelled “Stuff I blog about, a lot.” Whenever I’m in New York, I spend at least one day walking around the Lower East Side. It’s become a bit of a pilgrimage for me, since that’s where my great-great grandmother got her start as a “lady” doctor (and as a kick-a&& rebellious young …
The US publication of The Virgin Cure is only 3+ weeks away (June 26th!), so in anticipation of the big day I thought I’d start a new feature on my blog to share some of my favourite memories from the time I spent researching the novel in New York. In a series of “New York Minutes,” I’ll be posting moments from the past couple of years – snapshots, quotes, audio and such. I hope you enjoy them! New York Minute #1 On a rainy morning in May, while my husband Ian and I were strolling through Central Park, we came …
There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. – Emily Dickinson Libraries hold a special place in my heart. The public library in my hometown of Lebanon, Indiana was the place I spent most Saturday mornings as a child. My mom would drop me off on her way to do her grocery shopping, and by the time she returned, I’d have a stack of books piled high on the librarian’s desk, ready to bring home. The children’s section, with its giant, 1970’s coloured floor pillows was …
In 1870, there were over thirty thousand children living on the streets of New York and many more who wandered in and out of cellars and tenements as their familes struggled to scrape together enough income to put food on the table. Under the mentorship of sister physicians Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, my great-great grandmother (Dr. Sarah F. Mackintosh) and her classmates worked tirelessly to care for such children. They faced fierce opposition from the medical establishment as well as from society. Riots formed outside the doors of the infirmary, and funding was difficult to obtain. It was their …