BETH TRISSEL SHARES HER FAMILY'S HOME

Beth Trissel and friends

Please welcome my friend Beth Trissel, a lovely person as well as a wonderful author. Beth shares with us the story behind her latest release, SOMEWHERE THE BELLS RING. Here's Beth:

                      THE STORY BEHIND
               MY CHRISTMAS ROMANCE
 SOMEWHERE THE BELLS RING is book three in my ‘Somewhere’ series with a Christmas theme. The common thread in the series is that the story opens in one place, so far an old Virginia home, and then transports the reader ‘Somewhere else,’ either back in time in the same house as in SOMEWHERE MY LOVE, or another place entirely, such as the Scottish Highlands in SOMEWHERE MY LASS. *Fans of that story and the quirky secondary character Fergus will be glad to know I’m at work on the sequel.

 Back to my latest release, SOMEWHERE THE BELLS RING. Set in the old Virginia home place where my father grew up, a beautiful plantation home from the early 19th century, the story opens in 1968 during the tumultuous age of hippies, Vietnam, and some of the best darn rock music ever written. That nostalgic era beckoned to me (clamored) as did an earlier one, 1918 and the end of World War One. Not in the way of battle scenes, but in the form of a wounded soldier recently returned from war-weary France who lives in the house.

I’ve seen the early 20th century family photos and often pondered that bygone age, gracious in many ways apart from the war(s). Having a Marine Corps Captain grandfather who distinguished himself during the thick of the fighting in France during The Great War and then tragically died when my father was only three influenced this story–dedicated to the grandfather I never knew, but grieved all the same.


But the biggest influence was the poignant dream I had years ago about a young woman visiting this house during the Christmas holidays and the mysterious gentleman she met. His profound sadness made a deep impression on me, as did the gentleman himself, and the young lady who reached out to him. That dream nagged at me every Christmas until I finally wrote their story. I can let it go now. If you enjoy an intriguing mystery with Gothic overtones and heart-tugging romance set in vintage America then SOMEWHERE THE BELLS RING is for you.



Family home which inspired
SOMEWHERE THE BELLS RING

 Blurb: Caught with pot in her dorm room, Bailey Randolph is exiled to a relative's ancestral home in Virginia to straighten herself out. Banishment to Maple Hill is dismal, until a ghost appears requesting her help. Bailey is frightened but intrigued. Then her girlhood crush, Eric Burke, arrives and suddenly Maple Hill isn't so bad.

Eric Burke

To Eric, wounded in Vietnam, his military career shattered, this homecoming feels no less like exile. But when he finds Bailey at Maple Hill, her fairy-like beauty gives him reason to hope--until she tells him about the ghost haunting the house. Then he wonders if her one experiment with pot has made her crazy.

As Bailey and Eric draw closer, he agrees to help her find a long-forgotten Christmas gift the ghost wants. But will the magic of Christmas be enough to make Eric believe--in Bailey and the ghost--before the Christmas bells ring?~


***Available in various eBook formats from The Wild Rose Press, Amazon Kindle, All Romance Ebooks, Barnes & Noble’s Nookbook and other online booksellers.

Beth, thank you for sharing with us. You know I'm one of those fans waiting for Fergus' book - but then, I love all your books. I definitely enjoyed SOMEWHERE THE BELLS RING!

Readers, thanks for stopping by!