British Home Children

I had the opportunity on Saturday to attend the annual British Home Child event organized by the Eastern Ontario British Home Child Society. I would like to extend a special thanks to Judy Neville, who organized the event in Perth, Ontario, and kindly invited me to read from my first novel, The Home Child. I'd also like to thank my friends Margaret Leroux and Peter Fox, who drove from Kingston to lend their support to me at the event.


 If you're not familiar with the story of the British Home Children, the following information might be helpful:

Starting in 1869 and continuing throughout the first half of the twentieth century, children—some as young as six months—were sent to Canada, Australia, and other countries from Great Britain. Known as the British Home Children, approximately 100,000 of these children came to Canada. The majority of children came from the Barnardo orphan homes in England, while 7000 children were sent from the Quarrier orphan homes in Scotland. This child migration was organized as a mission of mercy: a means of allowing these children to have a better life than the poverty they had experienced in their homeland. But only two per cent of these children were actual orphans. They were separated from their parents and siblings and often ended up being exploited as cheap labour and abused in Canada.

My own novel, The Home Child, tells the story of Jake Hall, a transplanted city dweller trying to adjust to the realities of country life. He knows it isn't going to be an easy transition. He's prepared for major renovations to the old farm house he's bought, but what he hasn't counted on is finding a former resident still inhabiting the house in spirit form! Set in eastern Ontario, Canada, against the backdrop of a rural town in transition, this story combines historical detail and the supernatural in the poignant tale of a home child wanting simply to be reunited with the family he lost so many years ago.

Since writing this novel, I've had the privilege of talking to many home child descendants and hearing the stories of their relatives.

Summer Reading

If you're planning a vacation and would like to stock up on books--electronic or paper--please consider The Home Child, Fire Whisperer & Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural, and The Accusers. They are reasonably priced and can be read in one or two sittings while you're relaxing on the beach or by the pool.

The Home Child is the story of Jake Hall, a transplanted city dweller trying to adjust to the realities of country life. He knows it isn't going to be an easy transition. He's prepared for major renovations to the old farm house he's bought, but what he hasn't counted on is finding a former resident still inhabiting the house in spirit form! Set in eastern Ontario, Canada, against the backdrop of a rural town in transition, this story combines historical detail and the supernatural in the poignant tale of a home child wanting simply to be reunited with the family he lost so many years ago.

 

 

"Fire Whisperer" - Injured in a hotel fire, Keva Tait experiences auditory and visual hallucinations and is diagnosed with schizophrenia. But is this illness really at the root of her constant encounters with a young, dark-haired woman and an elder who materializes at night on her bed? With the tenth anniversary of the fire looming, Keva wants to take back her life by confronting what really happened when she was seventeen years old.

"Circle of Souls" - A young woman doing research at a small museum in Ottawa is almost pushed down a set of stairs. Her sister-in-law, who restores fossils at a museum of natural history, is touched by an unseen presence. A videographer glimpses unsettling images in his work. A paranormal team leader encounters the inexplicable as he investigates an old mill. A student working part time at an old jail experiences the despair of its former inmates. All of these locations are said to be haunted, but who exactly is the ghost? Or are there many ghosts seeking human intervention?

The Accusers - At first glance, Berwick Street is a quiet cul-de-sac: a safe place to raise a family and enjoy retirement. But in the dead of winter when most Berwick Street residents have gone south to escape the bitter cold, there is something evil lurking in the coming snowstorm. A group of followers with specially-honed powers of destruction seeks final retribution for events that occurred more than four hundred years ago. Aided by a teenager with precognitive abilities, an unlikely trio of women - Cassie, an introvert in her twenties, Rebecca, a sixty-five-year-old grandmother, and Mabel, an ailing octogenarian - must face the coming onslaught. Who will prevail?
 

 These books are available through Amazon and other outlets.

To read Goodreads reviews, please see https://www.goodreads.com/author/list....

Happy reading!

The Accusers: A New Novel by Lynn L. Clark

I'm very pleased to announce that my third novel, The Accusers, is now available on Amazon  in paperback and Kindle format. The e-version for Kobo will be published shortly.

I enjoyed writing this story and, as usual, did background research so that I could blend history and fiction, as in my previous two books, The Home Child and Fire Whisperer and Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural.

What's it about? It's the story of three women and a young boy who stand together against an evil that threatens to consume them, their families, and their neighbours. It's also a tale of how unmitigated hatred and the urge for revenge can destroy ordinary lives. I think this is probably the most suspenseful of the books I've written to date.

This is the back cover blurb:

At first glance, Berwick Street is a quiet cul-de-sac: a safe place to raise a family and enjoy retirement. But in the dead of winter when most Berwick Street residents have already headed south to escape the bitter cold, something evil lurks in the coming snowstorm. A group of followers with specially-honed powers of destruction seeks final retribution for events that occurred more than four hundred years ago!
 
Aided by a teenager with precognitive abilities, an unlikely trio of women--Cassie, an introvert in her twenties; Rebecca, a sixty-five-year-old grandmother; and Mabel, an ailing octogenarian who has outlived her husband and sons--must face the coming onslaught. WHO WILL PREVAIL?


There will be a Goodreads giveaway in April, and the novel will also be available through the Early Reviewers program on LibraryThing.  More about this in my next post.

Publishing a Book Is an Act of Faith

I've discovered that it's very difficult to publish novels and then wait to see if anyone actually reads them, so I'm pleased that my second book, Fire Whisperer & Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural, has been well-received. It's always a battle getting reviews, and I appreciate when readers take the time to post them. One reader even sent me a personal message telling me how much she enjoyed my writing and encouraging me to continue.

Since everyone is now a potential critic, you're never quite sure what to expect from readers. When I published The Home Child, I did a Goodreads giveaway, which involved providing free copies of the book to the winners as well as incurring the significant mailing costs of Canada Post. I received a two-star rating but no review from the first contest winner to post a rating, so not only was I out $20 for the book and mailing costs, but I had no idea why she didn't like the book. (Fortunately, I have received informative reviews since that time.)

I also discovered a few months after the publication of The Home Child that there was an online pirated version of my novel with more than four hundred downloads for which I received no compensation. That money would have gone a long way in paying for future publications.

My point? Publishing a novel is an act of faith and trust.

You need to love writing to keep moving on.

Fire Whisperer & Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural

The Plaid Raccoon Press is pleased to announce the publication of Fire Whisperer & Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural  by Lynn L. Clark. It is now in paperback and can be ordered from Amazon.com, and will be available in electronic format very shortly. Like The Home Child, the new book is set in eastern Ontario and is supernatural fiction interwoven with historical details.

Here are brief synopses of the two novellas:

"Fire Whisperer" - Injured in a hotel fire, Keva Tait experiences auditory and visual hallucinations and is diagnosed with schizophrenia. But is this illness really at the root of her constant encounters with a young, dark-haired woman and an elder who materializes at night on her bed? With the tenth anniversary of the fire looming, Keva wants to take back her life by confronting what really happened when she was seventeen years old.

"Circle of Souls" - A young woman doing research at a small museum in Ottawa is almost pushed down a set of stairs. Her sister-in-law, who restores fossils at a museum of natural history, is touched by an unseen presence. A videographer glimpses unsettling images in his work. A paranormal team leader encounters the inexplicable as he investigates an old mill. A student working part time at an old jail experiences the despair of its former inmates. All of these locations are said to be haunted, but who exactly is the ghost? Or are there many ghosts seeking human intervention?


Fire Whisperer & Circle of Souls: Two Novellas of the Supernatural is currently a Goodreads Giveaway and is also listed in the Early Reviewers Program of LibraryThing.

If you are a reviewer of supernatural fiction and would like an electronic copy of the book for review purposes, please send an e-mail request to llclark136@hotmail.com.

Stay tuned for additional updates!

Ghosts and History

I discovered when I was writing The Home Child that I enjoy doing research and incorporating this research into a novel--enough to interest readers in the subject matter, but hopefully not enough to overwhelm them with details.

I'm currently working on my second novel, which is based on various sites in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that are reportedly haunted. An interesting side benefit of researching these sites is learning more of the history of this country and its people. For example. I've learned of the tragedies that befell some of the builders of the Rideau Canal--renowned for being the world's longest skating rink--who were French-Canadians and poor Irishmen from County Cork in Ireland. And I've discovered that such research puts a human face on the historical past.

In addition, I've found out that many of  the ghostly encounters recorded at these sites are scarier than anything I could come up with on my own.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of my second novel. In the meantime, back to my research...

The Home Child: A New Release from The Plaid Raccoon Press

The Plaid Raccoon Press is pleased to announce the publication of The Home Child by Lynn L. Clark. The novel tells the story of Jake Hall, a transplanted city dweller who is trying to adjust to the realities of country life. Jake knows it isn't going to be an easy transition, and he's prepared for major renovations to the old farm house he's purchased. But what he hasn't counted on is finding a former resident still inhabiting the house in spirit form!

 Synopsis

Set in eastern Ontario, Canada, against the backdrop of a rural town in transition, the novel combines historical detail and the supernatural in the poignant story of a Scottish home child who wants simply to be reunited with the family he lost so many years ago.

Historical Context
 
Starting in 1869 and continuing to the mid-twentieth century, approximately 100,000 children were sent to Canada from the United Kingdom. Although the majority of the children were from England, approximately 7,000 children came from the Quarrier orphan homes in Scotland. Organized as a mission of mercy, this child migration was supposed to allow poverty-stricken children to have a better life abroad. But only two per cent of the home children were in fact orphans. Separated from their parents and siblings, many of these children were abused and exploited as a source of cheap labour when they came to Canada.

 

 Author Biography

Lynn L. Clark was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Prior to her retirement in 2011, she worked for the federal government in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She lives in a small town in eastern Ontario with her husband, crime fiction writer Michael J. McCann. Lynn is currently working on her second supernatural novel. 

  
Excerpt and Buy Links

To read an excerpt from The Home Child, please click here.

The paperback version is available from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca. 
The e-book version for your Amazon Kindle is available at http://www.amazon.com/Home-Child-supernatural-novel-ebook/dp/B00QEBQNPK/. 
 For all other e-readers and devices, please click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/497674. 

To enter a Goodreads giveaway for this book, please click here.

 
A Final Note

Now that Lynn has published her first novel of the supernatural, she has agreed to assume full editorial control of Behind the Walls of Nightmare, which will continue to focus on the horror genre, including topics related to my supernatural thriller, The Ghost Man. Meanwhile, I'll be managing The Overnight Bestseller blog on crime fiction, writing, and other adventures.

Lynn also has a new Goodreads blog, Writing in Retirement, which is available at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10057406.Lynn_L_Clark/blog.