About the Novel:
Maeve
McMahan, a criminal defense attorney, has just blown the case of her career.
When she returns home to the mountains of North Carolina to clear her head, she
moves back in with her grandmother. On an early morning hike, she meets the one
woman she never expected to see:
Delphine, The Witch of Roan Mountain.
Accused
of a terrible crime she didn’t commit, Delphine has been haunting the county
since just after the Civil War and she can’t rest until her name is cleared.
She’s counting on Maeve’s help to get to the bottom of the century-old mystery.
Campbell
Hyatt, a sheriff’s deputy, has never gotten over his first love, Maeve. When
her grandmother breaks her leg, Campbell’s on duty and he finds Maeve at the
top of Roan Mountain, convinced she’s seen a ghost. A cop who doesn’t believe
in ghosts, he thinks Maeve needs to be focused on her grandmother not an old
legend that hits a little too close to home for his liking.
With
Maeve’s car out of commission and Granny stuck in the hospital, Campbell and
Maeve are thrown together in a quest to find out why Delphine was branded a
witch. It will take both of them to get to the bottom of a nineteenth century
story love story that may impact them more than they realize. Can they banish a
ghost without rekindling an old flame of their own?
Author Bio:
Blaire Edens lives in the mountains of
North Carolina on a farm that’s been in her family since 1790. When she’s not
plotting, she’s busy knitting, running, or listening to the Blues. Blaire loves
iced tea with mint, hand-stitched quilts, and yarn stores. She refuses to eat
anything that mixes chocolate and peanut butter or apple and cinnamon. She’s
generally nice to her mother, tries to remember not to smack her bubble gum,
and only speeds when no one’s looking. Blaire is the award-winning author of Wild About Rachel, An Officer and a Mermaid, and The
Witch of Roan Mountain.
Connect with Blaire online:
https://twitter.com/BlaireEdens
EXCERPT:
Maeve decided to start with an easy
hike. It had been years since she’d roamed these mountains and the gym
work-outs she’d done in Atlanta didn’t even come close to getting her into the
shape she was in when she lived here. The Roan Mountain Gardens trail was just
what she needed. Easy and quickly rewarding. She tossed her things in the
passenger seat of the Volvo and drove down Jane’s Bald Road.
She turned at Carver’s Gap and followed
the winding road up toward the gardens. After stopping at the kiosk, paying the
usage fee and putting the hang tag on her rear-view mirror, she steered her
Volvo sedan into a parking spot. The parking lot was empty. Too early for the
fall foliage peak and too late for the summer riot of Rhodendrons, Maeve had
the place to herself. She grabbed her water bottle and a small daypack from the
trunk and headed toward the paved trail that led to one of the best views
anywhere.
Because it was still early, most of the
boreal forest leading to the overlook patio was still shrouded in mist. Maeve
took her time winding through the moss-covered trees, savoring the rich earthy
smell of the soils and the beautiful, vibrant greens of the plants. As she
walked, the fog began to lift and disperse, allowing the sun’s light to
penetrate through the trees in watery stripes.
She had no idea why she’d stayed away
so long.
It was eerie being alone up here. Even
though she’d been on this path dozens of times, this was the first time she’d
been by herself.
In high school, it had been one of her
favorite places. She and Campbell used to come up here and picnic. Kiss. Make
love. She smiled at the memory.
Campbell Hyatt. Her first love.
He was still in town. A sheriff’s
deputy. Single, no kids. Granny kept up with him and Maeve suspected that the
old woman still fostered dreams that Maeve would come to her senses and marry
Campbell.
It was too late for that. By a decade.
Campbell would always be a small-town
boy. He’d never leave Avery County. The place, with its towering green
mountains and ice-cold streams, was as much as part of him as the blood running
through his veins.
Maeve got out of the county as soon as
she had a chance. Undergraduate degree at Clemson University and then law
school at Wake Forest. As soon as she’d graduated, she was off to Atlanta to
work for one of the best criminal law firms in the South.
She’d planned to stay with Palmer,
Norris, Howard for the rest of her career.
Until she’d let her ethics get in the
way.
She had blown a big case. A case she
could’ve won, should’ve won. But she just couldn’t compromise her principles.
Now she was back where she started.
Avery County, North Carolina. No job, no plan. No direction. But she wouldn’t
be here for long. It was too small, too confining.
Maeve took a deep breath and tried, for
the thousandth time, to relax. Chill. To not think about the Juris Doctor she’d
worked so hard to get only to piss away less than ten years later.
She rounded the corner and the view
cleared her mind instantly.
Spreading out in front of her were the
green folds of mountains and the crisp tucks of valleys for as far as she could
see. Some of the trees, especially the ones high on the ridges, were beginning
to turn yellow. Fall was on its way and would light these mountains aflame with
color.
She sat down on a bench and pulled her
water bottle and a granola bar from her daypack.
Maeve heard the woman before she saw
her. A childhood spent in the woods had given her sharp ears. There was no
mistaking the soft footsteps on the fallen leaves coming toward the bench as
those of a woman.
When she looked up, she was shocked.
Staring back at her was the one woman
she ever expected to see.
*****
I’d
known that she was coming. I’d felt it in the wind, the trees, the change of
the seasons. We were tied together, she and I, and she was the only one who
might be able to help me. I’d prayed for her to hurry.
Even
dead women pray. Probably more than the living ones.
The
woman on the bench was small, tiny. Fragile. More like a teenager than a woman.
Long blond hair pulled back off her oval-shaped face. The most remarkable thing
about her was the way her blue eyes were as sharp as icicles.
It
worried me. I’d waited a long time for her to come home and now, looking at her
from behind the trunk of a balsam tree, I wasn’t sure she was going to be able
to help me.
She
wasn’t like her granny. Where her granny was mostly gristle and vinegar, this
girl was cotton and clouds. I was terrified that I’d wasted all my energy to
get up here just to find I’d been wrong.
I
wasn’t sure she’d even be able to see me. Not at first. It might take her
awhile to believe I was real. Well, mostly real.
I
eased out so that I was standing on the pathway. She turned immediately. I put
all my energy into making myself visible. It felt strange. I’d spent so many
years hiding and now I was trying to do the opposite. I bit my lip and
concentrated as hard as I could.
Her
eyebrows went up.
She
saw me.
That
fast.
Maybe
I was right in waiting for her. She had the gift.
“I’m
Delphine,” I said. It took all the energy I had to mutter two words. Back when
I’d been alive, I could talk all day without flagging an inch but now it was
exhausting.
The
woman nodded. “I know who you are.”
“Help,”
I muttered. “Need help.”
And
then I faded into nothing.
1.
It's
almost Halloween! What's your favorite witch movie or novel?
I
love Practical Magic, both the movie
and the book. I also adore The Witch of Blackbird
Pond and recently reread it for old times’ sake. I like misunderstood
witches.
2.
What
was the inspiration for your witch novella?
In
the summer of 2015, I went on a hike to Roan Mountain, a magical place on the
North Carolina/Tennessee border. My mother has picnicked in the same spot for
over sixty years. I have so many memories of time spent with family and friends
at the summit and it’s one of my favorite places on the planet. On this visit,
it was very misty and then, shortly after we reached the summit, the mist
burned off and I snapped the photo below. When I looked at the shot after
returning home, I knew instantly that it was my setting. It was the easiest
book I’ve ever written, the bulk of it being completed in just over a week.
3.
Tell
us about your main character: white witch, dark witch, or something in-between?
Delphine
is ghost. Having been accused of witchcraft and murder, she’s determined to
wander the mountains until someone can clear her name. Maeve, a
down-on-her-luck attorney sees Delphine and is so drawn to her story that she
makes it her mission to get to the bottom of a century-old mystery. In creating
her, I was able to tie in some interesting history of the region as well as my
love for the culture of Appalachia.
4.
Cast
your characters. If your novella was made into a movie, who would play your
main characters?
For
Maeve, I think Jennifer Lawrence would be awesome. Bradley Cooper, with the
American Sniper muscles, would make a great Campbell. I’d love to see these two
together on the screen again because they have such great chemistry. As
Delphine, I think Anne Hathaway could pull off the perfect ghostly witch. And
Paula Deen for Granny. Because she can probably make some mad biscuits in real
life
5.
Do
you believe in magic?
Yes.
Magic is everywhere. You just have to know where to look.
6.
What
else should we know about your novella?
As
a native of the area I’ve written about in this book, I’m incredibly proud of
my Appalachian roots and I hope you’ll come to Roan Mountain someday. I’d love
to meet you at the top and we can look for Delphine together.
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