Hi Diana! I am so happy to welcome you to my blog for the first time - I absolutely loved your article that I am sharing with my visitors after our interview. Wishing you lots of sales with FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE - let's kick things off, shall we?
1.) What genre do you typically read? Why?
As a history buff, my favorite genre is historical, fiction or nonfiction.
2.)
Share a favourite childhood memory.
When I was about 8, I wanted a doll I saw on TV commercials, Snuggle Bun. She was so cute and I wanted her very badly. I dropped hints left and right, but no one, parents, or grandparents, gave me a clue I’d get her for Christmas. But when Christmas came, I tore open the wrapping paper of my first gift, and there she was!
3.)
Do you have any shameless addictions? ie. Tea, Books,
Shoes, Clothes?
I did buy a lot of good jewelry for a while, but not so much any more; I’m able to resist the temptation.
4.)
What do you think is the biggest challenge of writing
a new book?
Making sure the very first sentence is a grabber, because if they don’t
like that first sentence, they won’t read the rest of it.
5.)
Yes, my daily goal is 2,500 words a day, or 10 pages.
6.)
I believe series are a great way to gather loyal
fans. I started a series called The Sassy Ladies Series, about women in history
who made a difference. They’re novels, based on the lives of strong women.
FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE
Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne called themselves Adam
and Eve as he suffered the shame of his family’s connection to the Salem Witch
Trials.
Meet Diana
My passion for
history and travel has taken me to every locale of my books and short stories,
set in Medieval and Renaissance England, Paris, Egypt, the Mediterranean,
colonial Virginia, New England, Washington D.C. and New York. My urban fantasy
romance, FAKIN’ IT, won a Top Pick award from Romantic Times. I’m a member of
Romance Writers of America, the Richard III Society and the Aaron Burr
Association. My husband Chris and I own CostPro, an engineering firm based in
Boston. In my spare time, I bicycle, golf, play my piano, devour books of any
genre, and spend as much time as possible living the dream on my beloved Cape
Cod.
About FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE
Salem,
Massachusetts witnessed horrific and shameful events in 1692 that haunted the
town for three centuries. Accused as witches, nineteen innocent people were
hanged and one was pressed to death. Judge John Hathorne and Reverend Nicholas
Noyes handed down the sentences. One victim, Sarah Good, cursed Noyes from the
hanging tree: “If you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink!” She
then set her eyes on Judge Hathorne. “I curse you and your acknowledged heirs
for all time on this wicked earth!” Hathorne was not only Sarah Good’s
merciless judge; he also fathered her son Peter and refused to acknowledge him.
In
1717, Nicholas Noyes choked on his own blood and died. Every generation after
the judge continued to lose Hathorne land and money, prompting the rumor of a
family curse. By the time his great great grandson Nathaniel was born, they
faced poverty.
Ashamed
of his ancestor, Nathaniel added the ‘w’ to his last name. His novels and
stories explore his beliefs and fears of sin and evil, and he based many of his
characters on overbearing Puritan rulers such as Judge Hathorne.
When
Nathaniel first met Sophia Peabody, they experienced instantaneous mutual attraction.
Sparks flew. He rose upon my eyes and soul a king among men by divine right,
she wrote in her journal.
But
to Sophia’s frustration, Nathaniel insisted they keep their romance secret for
three years. He had his reasons, none of which made sense to Sophia. But
knowing that he believed Sarah Good’s curse inflicted so much tragedy on his
family over the centuries, she made it her mission to save him. Sarah was an
ancestor of Sophia’s, making her and Nathaniel distant cousins—but she kept
that to herself for the time being.
Sophia Peabody’s home next to Charter
Street Burying Ground, resting place of Judge Hathorne, Salem, MA
Sophia
suffered severe headaches as a result of childhood mercury treatments. She
underwent routine mesmerizing sessions, a popular cure for many ailments.
Spirits sometimes came to her when mesmerized, and as a spiritualist and
medium, she was able to contact and communicate with spirits. She knew if she
could reach Sarah and persuade her to forgive Judge Hathorne, Nathaniel would
be free of his lifelong burden.
Sarah
Good’s son Peter had kept a journal the family passed down to the Peabodys.
Sophia sensed his presence every time she turned the brittle pages and read his
words. John Hathorne’s legitimate son John also kept a journal, now in the
Hawthorne family’s possession. Living on opposite sides of Salem in 1692, Peter
and John wrote in vivid detail about how the Salem trials tormented them
throughout their lives.
Nathaniel
finally agreed to announce their engagement, and married Sophia on July 9, 1842.
They moved into their first home, The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts.
Wanting nothing else but to spend the summer enjoying each other, we became
Adam and Eve, alone in our Garden of Eden, Sophia wrote in her journal.
The Old Manse, the Hawthornes' first home
as newlyweds
As
success eluded Nathaniel, they lived on the verge of poverty. After being
dismissed from his day job at the Salem Custom House, he wrote The Scarlet Letter,
which finally gained him the recognition he deserved. But the curse he believed
Sarah cast on his family still haunted him. In the book he asks for the curse
to be lifted.
The House of the Seven Gables, Salem, MA, built
in 1668
Sophia
urged Nathaniel to write a novel about the house, knowing it would be cathartic
for him. While they lived in Lenox, Nathaniel finished writing The House of the
Seven Gables. The Gothic novel explored all his fears and trepidations about
the curse. He told Sophia, “Writing it, and especially reading it aloud to you
lifted a tremendous burden off my shoulders. I felt it physically leave me. I
carried this inside me since my youth and couldn’t bring it out to face it. And
I have you, and only you, to thank.”
But
he did not believe the curse could be lifted.
Sophia
invited renowned spiritualist John Spear to The Gables. She explained that she
needed to complete one final step to convince Nathaniel the curse was lifted.
Read More About John Spear
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/06/the-bizarre-mechanical-messiah-of-john-murray-spear/John
Spear
John
Spear urged Nathaniel to forgive Judge Hathorne. “You don’t have to say it out
loud,” John said. “Just forgive him in your heart.”
Nathaniel
whispered his forgiveness.
John,
Nathaniel and Sophia went to Judge Hathorne’s gravesite to give the journals
proper burial.
Grave of Judge Hathorne, Charter Street
Burial Ground, Salem, MA
Why I wrote FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE
I live near Salem and have been to
all the Hawthorne landmarks there, and in Concord. The House of the Seven
Gables has been my favorite house in the world since I'm a kid. I've always
felt a strong spiritual connection to Salem, and always wanted to write one of
my books set there, including the witch trials.
I read several of his books and
stories, to get a better background on him. Nathaniel wrote from the heart,
about his true beliefs, and his loathing of how the witch victims were treated.
He did consider it disgraceful, and it certainly was. He added the 'w' to his
last name to distance himself from the judge. That tormented him and his family
all his life. It must have been cathartic to him to have his writing as his
outlet.
Visit
Salem
I
was fortunate to get a private tour of the House of the Seven Gables when I was
writing the book; two of the guides, Ryan Conary and David Moffat, showed
me around, and it was fabulous.
Click
here to see their book about the house.
The Wayside, the only home the Hawthornes
ever owned, in Concord, MA
Nathaniel added that room at the top for
his writing studio
An Excerpt From FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE
(Sophia and Nathaniel’s visit to his cousin Susan Ingersoll at The House of the
Seven Gables)
I went over to a curio cabinet and swept my eyes over the items on the
shelves—a china doll wearing a calico dress, a stack of gold cups and saucers,
a red and blue glass checkerboard propped up to display its surface…and a
wooden hammer on the top shelf. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a gavel
that judges use in trials. Out of curiosity I picked it up and a shock ran
through me as if electrified. Dear God, was it that gavel?
I dropped it to the rug. It landed with a thump. I bent to retrieve it.
Somehow I knew it wouldn’t shock me this time—that was only an initial warning.
“Something about it made me want to touch it, to pick it up and hold it.”
Nathaniel approached me. He stared at the gavel in my hand, horror
darkening his eyes. His lips parted but no words emerged. I knew what he was
thinking—the curse. He turned to his cousin, pointing at the gavel, his arm
trembling.
Susan hurried over to us, took it from me and placed it back on the
shelf. “Yes, it’s Judge Hathorne’s. What happened, Sophie? Are you all right?”
I looked down at my open hands, palms up. They burned as if I’d touched
a hot poker. “That gavel—it carries something evil. Has anything happened to
you with this, Susie?”
Nathaniel backed away and before Susan could answer me, he grasped her
arm. “I begged you to get rid of that accursed thing! You know it shouldn’t be
here!”
She looked from him to me, heaving a deep sigh. “I’m not inclined to
dispose of it, Natty. It’s a family heirloom, notwithstanding its past.”
He gripped the chair, his face drained of color. “It’s downright evil.
You know what he used that thing for.”
She held her hands up in surrender. “Very well, I’ll conceal it.” She
took it off the shelf and slid it behind the checkerboard.
“That should not be in this house!” He stood his ground, his eyes fixed
on the checkerboard as if it would melt in such close proximity to that horrid
object.
“It’s fine there, Natty. It’s concealed from sight now.” She looked at
me and gestured for me to sit again. I sat and gulped my sherry.
“Nathaniel’s always overcome with distress at the witch trials.” Susan
explained what I already knew.
“And so should you be,” he cut in.
“If I must speak for Judge Hathorne, I heard stories of him from my grandfather.” Susan looked from Nathaniel to me. “The whole hysteria that caught up the judge was started by unscrupulous men to further their own riches. But spectral evidence was still admissible. No sane person could believe that blithery.”
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This is so interesting!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz! Hawthorne was a fascinating person.
ReplyDelete