Jennie Marsland

A bit about the books I'm working on now...

This will be my next finished novel. While Trey McShannon comes of age on the battlefields of the Civil War, his twin sister Rochelle faces her own challenges. In her father's old home in the Yorkshire Dales, Chelle grieves for her mother and fears for her twin and the man she loves, who is fighting in the Confederate army. But the McShannons are survivors, and Chelle soon finds herself drawn to her new home and its people, in particular Martin Rainnie with his gift for music. Chelle finds that she has to change and broaden her definitions of love, loyalty and friendship - and she will need every bit of courage she possesses before she discovers where her true home is.

This story will be finished after McShannon's Heart. It's a paranormal set here in Halifax, and the plot revolves around the Halifax Eplosion. For those who may not have heard of it, on Dec 6 1917 two ships collided in Halifax Harbor - the Imo, bound for Belgium with war relief supplies, and the Mont Blanc, a munitions ship fully loaded with picric acid, TNT and benzol  The resulting explosion remains the most powerful man-made non-atomic blast in history. It was studied as a test case for the Manhattan Project. It flattened Halifax's North End and took thousands of lives.

Cate Birch is a pottery teacher, a modern free spirit who buys a North End fixer-upper. As she renovates the place, Cate discovers that it was built on a pre-Explosion foundation - and then she encounters the very attractive original owner, Liam Cochrane, who died along with his family on the day when Halifax was shattered.

The inspiration for this story came from an unsettling experience of a good friend of mine, who lives in the North End. As Cate says, if haunting is possible, then that part of town must be prime ground for it.

It's been fascinating doing the research for this book. The stories of the people whose lives were lost or changed on Dec. 6, 1917 are as poignant today as they were then. Since that day, Haligonians have said "We survived the Explosion; we can survive anything."

It's true.