Haunted Heart: A Novel

Sarah Harrison, a young Canadian waitress at an upscale Boston restaurant, inherits a mansion in Saint John, New Brunswick. She heads north to Canada with thoughts of liquidating her estate and returning to her life in Boston. But things don’t quite go as planned. Sarah finds herself drawn into a new life in the haunted old house she once visited as a young child. Her new life includes long-time servant Hannah, a sharp-tongued elderly Irish-Canadian woman who converses with spirits of the dead. There’s also Patrick Ryan Gallagher, the handsome contractor with more on his mind than restoring the rundown mansion to its former glory. Patrick and Sarah embark on a summer fling that seems to be much more than that and is going in a direction neither anticipated. Can they end it before someone gets hurt – or is it somehow their destiny? And, is it just the old woman Hannah’s imagination, or is she actually receiving messages from beyond the graves of ghostly ancestors of the young lovers, ancestors whose own love affair ended in tragedy. Their spirits appear in dreams, late at night, and as bedroom apparitions with disturbing thoughts to share. In addition to all of this, is the menacing rapist Murphy and the ever watchful eyes of hallway portraits. All of this is much more than Sarah bargained for when she made her fateful trip north to Canada. Sarah wants nothing more than to sell off the estate and move back to Boston and away from the ghostly confusion – and her growng passion for Patrick. Sometimes, it seems, a love affair that was meant to be can somehow be ended by judgemental parents and tragic circumstances. Such is the case with with Patrick Gallagher and Sarah Harrison’s long-dead ancestors Evelyn Elizabeth Harris and Padraig Gallagher, whose own love affair ended with their sudden deaths. Can they really be reaching out from the Afterlife to guide Sarah and Patrick into a loving relationship and marital union they themselves were denied? This is a superbly written, intriguing and engaging first novel by accomplished writer Laverne Stewart, bestselling author of non-fiction books Healing After Homicide and Angels and the Afterlife. It’s a ghostly mystery-romance that held my interest from start to finish. Laverne Stewart has crafted a first–rate novel of the spirit world manipulating the current ‘real’ world, a novel exploring the tragic love affair of an age-old romance and its impact on the modern-day affair of two star-crossed lovers – highly recommended – a must read! - Michael B. Davie, author, The Late Man

About the Author

About the Author of Haunted Heart: "Laverne Stewart, best-selling author of non-fiction titles Angels and the Afterlife, and Healing After Homicide - The Jackie Clark Story, has now turned her talented hand to fiction with Haunted Heart, an historical romance novel set in past and present periods in her hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick. In addition to being a critically acclaimed author, Laverne Stewart is an award-winning career journalist of 30 years. The reporter for major newspapers across the province, is also a former radio news anchor and CTV reporter.

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