Jill Morrow | Mystery in the Unknown

NEWPORT is a character- driven story of riddles, relationships, and redemption. Set in 1921 Newport, Rhode Island, it gathers together an ensemble of characters, places them in an opulent “summer cottage,” and leaves them to untangle webs where resolution will either set them free or do them in. The plot incorporates elements of historical fiction, mystery, and romance. Several secrets the characters would prefer kept hidden are revealed via séances, so the story also involves a dose of the supernatural.

Spiritualism was popular in the early 1920s, which is one reason I set NEWPORT in that era. NEWPORT isn’t a ghost story, though; it’s just a story that may (or may not) have a ghost in it. So, part of me is reluctant to shine a spotlight on what is really only one aspect of the plot. But I’ve been asked several times how my interest in the paranormal began, and why I used the supernatural in this book. I usually fob off the first question and answer the second, but what the heck. Here, for the first time in public, is a (very) brief account of my foray into the unexplainable.

Back a quadrillion years ago when I was 18, I made my fortune baby-sitting. One dark night in a quiet old house, as the wind howled outside and the children slept, I watched a made-for-TV movie called The Great Houdini. It starred Paul Michael Glaser as Harry Houdini, and it spent a great deal of time delving into Houdini’s lifelong obsession with the occult (a whole other blog post!). I was so scared that I had to stay on the phone with a friend who was also watching the movie. I’m not sure if we calmed each other down or scared ourselves even more, but by the end of the evening, we had decided to buy a Ouija Board and give it a whirl.

We purchased our Ouija Board at Goodwill for a whopping 25 cents. Alone in my room, we set the board between us, placed our fingertips on the plastic planchette, and waited for something to happen.

Nothing did. We sat a bit longer. I’m not even sure we wanted something to happen.

Then, suddenly, the planchette took off, flying from letter to letter on the board as if it had just awakened from a long sleep. We could barely keep our fingertips atop it.

During the course of the next week, we asked a lot of questions, and the planchette moved obligingly to answer them. Our “contact” spelled out that the board was not a toy, that it could only be used in light, and that the two of us were incapable of creating a safe channel together. I was further instructed to “Ask Ann” for further information. (I’ve changed names, here.) Since I didn’t know any Ann other than the grown-up, perfectly mature woman who worked with my mother, this seemed particularly silly. I’d barely met her; the thought of calling because a Ouija board told me to do so seemed beyond foolish.

I’m sure you’ve already figured out that I had the “foolish” thing down pat.

Here’s how that phone call went:

Me: “Hello, this is Jill Morrow, and I know this sounds stupid, but I’m calling because a Ouija board suggested it. Does that make any sense to you?”

Ann: (long pause) “When can we meet?”

It turns out that Ann had just returned from a trip to the west coast, where she had used the Ouija Board for the very first time …

As I’ve grown older, my thoughts about spirituality and the supernatural have remained fluid. I couldn’t define them easily if I tried, and I like it that way.

But what about that second question, the one about why I chose to include a paranormal plotline in NEWPORT? Well, there is mystery in the unknown. Characters become vulnerable in the face of that which they cannot control. Secrets are revealed, regardless of whether or not those harboring them wish it. Worlds blend, and anything can happen. I wanted that atmosphere in NEWPORT, so spiritualism became a component of the novel.

Authors choose the elements they feel best enhance their stories, but it is ultimately up to readers to determine whether or not those particular choices worked for them.

GIVEAWAY

Do supernatural elements added to genres other than “ghost” or “horror” work for you? I’d love to share your thoughts! Leave a comment below and be entered for a chance to win copies of all three of my novels: ANGEL CAFÉ, THE OPEN CHANNEL, and NEWPORT.

About Jill Morrow

Jill Morrow has enjoyed a wide spectrum of careers, from practicing law to singing with local bands. She holds a bachelor's degree in history from Towson University and a JD from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

She lives in Baltimore, but has a soft spot in her heart for Maine, Boston and Chicago, not always in that order. You can contact her through her website.

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About NEWPORT

Spring 1921. The Great War is over, Prohibition is in full swing, the Depression still years away, and Newport, Rhode Island's glittering “summer cottages” are inhabited by the gloriously rich families who built them.

Attorney Adrian De la Noye is no stranger to Newport, having sheltered there during his misspent youth. Though he’d prefer to forget the place, he returns to revise the will of a well-heeled client. Bennett Chapman's offspring have the usual concerns about their father's much-younger fiancée. But when they learn of the old widower’s firm belief that his first late wife, who “communicates” via séance, has chosen the beautiful Catherine Walsh for him, they’re shocked. And for Adrian, encountering Catherine in the last place he saw her decades ago proves to be a far greater surprise.

Still, De la Noye is here to handle a will, and he fully intends to do so—just as soon as he unearths every last secret, otherworldly or not, about the Chapmans, Catherine Walsh . . . and his own very fraught history.

A skillful alchemy of social satire, dark humor, and finely drawn characters, Newport vividly brings to life the glitzy era of the 1920s.