Synopsis

For a young caregiver in the Ozarks, an old house holds haunting memories in a ghostly novel about family secrets, sacrifice, and lost loves by the author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

In the summer of 1925, the winds of change are particularly chilling for a young woman whose life has suddenly become unbalanced.

Devastated by her mother’s death and a cruel, broken engagement, Sadie Halloran learns that her great-aunt Marguerite, a renowned artist now in the throes of dementia, needs a live-in companion. Grasping at newfound purpose, Sadie leaves her desolate Kansas City boardinghouse for Blackberry Grange, Marguerite’s once-grand mansion sitting precariously atop an Arkansas bluff. Though Marguerite is a fading shell of the vibrant woman Sadie remembers, Marguerite is feverishly compelled to paint eerie, hallucinatory portraits of old lovers—some cherished, some regretted, and some beastly. All of them haunting.

With each passing night, time itself seems to shift with the shadows at Blackberry Grange. As truth and delusion begin to blur, Sadie must uncover the secrets that hold Marguerite captive to her past before reality—and Marguerite’s life—slips away entirely.

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This book will be released on 5/1 – preorder your copy today

Praise

“A bold, fresh story about the ghosts that haunt us and the ones we overcome. Paulette Kennedy explores loss and humility through the eyes of a saucy flapper who may bend the rules, but not her sense of morality. This book will linger in your heart like the fond memory of a loved one.”  —Mansi Shah, Indigo bestselling author of A Good Indian Girl

“THE ARTIST OF BLACKBERRY GRANGE is an utter gothic delight. Kennedy’s signature use of an atmospheric southern setting, evocative prose and gothic suspense create a winning combination. Kennedy keeps readers hooked until the very last page. Pitch-perfect pacing combined with very real—very human–characters make this a novel that will stick with you long after the final pages.” —Jess Armstrong, USA Today bestselling author of The Curse of Penryth Hall

“With THE ARTIST OF BLACKBERRY GRANGE, Paulette Kennedy continues her streak of writing brilliant gothics. Part Dorian Gray and part exploration of the dark legacy of family trauma, I adored every twisty, gorgeously written page. Don’t miss this one!” —Kris Waldherr, author of The Lost History of Dreams and Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women

Review

What would you do to change the past?

Set in 1925, this novel delves into the mystical world, but also one of love, greed, and deception. Sadie moved to this small town in Arkansas because she didn’t have many other options. This is a time when women were set aside, not allowed to inherit things, and were at the mercy of men. However, what she discovered in Eureka Springs was family and secrets. Those secrets were hard to uncover due to her Great-Aunt’s dementia. But with love, persistence, and some help from the mystical realm, the truth is exposed, and perhaps wrongs can be righted.

This is billed as horror, and I don’t see it as such. To me, this had a paranormal twist that intrigued and kept me captivated. I nearly finished this book in one sitting! It wasn’t Sadie who kept me enthralled with this book, but Marguerite and her past. There were so many stories to uncover the truth, and this was harder due to Marguerite’s dementia. Was what she learned the truth, or were there other factors at play?

The book is dark, and if you don’t read books that include spirits or otherworldly possibilities, this isn’t the book for you. But if you are open to a novel that will bend reality and explore the paranormal, then this is the book for you.

I thought this book was amazing and gave it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Paulette Kennedy is the bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain, The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, and Parting the Veil, which received the prestigious HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there. After her mother introduced her to the Brontës as a teenager, her affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in fog.

Paulette’s next release, THE ARTIST OF BLACKBERRY GRANGE, is a novel of gothic suspense set in 1920s Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Coming May 1, 2025 from Lake Union Publishing.

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