Tag Archives: hoboken public library

Hestor Fox’s Gothic Mysteries: The Witch of Pale Harbor, The Witch of Willow Hall, and The Orphan of Cemetery Hill

10 Dec

Hestor Fox is now known for her lush, historical fantasies. But, before that? Gothic mysteries. The former museum curator and historical archaeologist built her career on tales woven through the macabre. Let me point to the original three that launched her career – The Witch of Pale Harbor, The Witch of Willow Hall, and Orphan of Cemetery Hill. These are all excellent novels that express the dreaded and dreary themes of the Gothic genre alongside the macabre tones of Edgar Allan Poe. 

  1. The Witch of Pale Harbor: Psychological suspense mixed with the foreboding of an isolated New England town in the 1830s. Fox captured me with her spirited language and vivid imagery – from one of the very first scenes when the protagonist finds himself exploring his new parish. The sense of claustrophobia intensifies as suspicion grows around a reclusive governess. Small-town judgment and hysteria blend well here.
  2. The Witch of Willow Hall: Critically, the best-rated of her original three gothic stories. Three sisters flee scandal and take refuge in their family’s retreat, Willow Hall. Guess what? It’s haunted with a terrible curse that sustains the sisters with palpable dread and a psychological toll that bellows heavy like a grandfather clock. 
  3. The Orphan of Cemetery Hill: Rich with the Victorians’ death obsession and an intense psychological terror mystery. We move on to Boston in the 1840s. What could possibly plague someone who works as a medium and facilitates seances? It’s all about helping others…until someone from her past appears as a result of this activity. The protagonist must now confront secrets of her own. What transpires is a confrontation of the dark secrets of her own identity.

Eerie whispers of a classic Gothic tale mixed with atmospherically convoluted moral struggles that thrust characters into conundrums and challenge their own code – that’s what you get here.

Which novel will you be checking out? Each title is linked to their BCCLS page, so go ahead and make your reservation. 

Post a pic and tag @hobokenlibrary on Instagram once you get your copy from the library.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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Come to the Hoboken Library Festival in Church Square Park on Oct 15 and meet Charles Salzberg and Other Local Authors and Poets!

12 Oct

Come join us on October 15, 2022 from 11 am-4 pm, in Church Square Park across from the library’s main branch at 500 Park Ave in Hoboken.  Local authors will be giving book talks and readings throughout the day.  Plus you can stop by the local author tent to meet them and have them sign copies of their books.  There will also be music and fun events for children and teens.

Our local authors include Charles Salzberg, who was born and raised across the river in New York City. He began his career as a journalist and book reviewer before becoming a novelist himself.

His first novel, Swann’s Last Song, was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. Salzberg continued the Henry Swann series with Swann Dives In, Swann’s Lake of Despair, Swann’s Way Out, and Swann’s Down.

Salzberg has also written three stand-alone novels, Devil in the Hole (named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine) and Second Story Man (nominated for a Shamus Award and a David Award and winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award), and his latest Canary in a Coal Mine.

Canary in a Coal Mine stars PI Pete Fortunato, a former cop, who is hired to find a missing husband, but when the husband turns up dead, Fortunato finds himself solving an even bigger mystery, his client disappears and he finds himself accused of theft by the Albanian mob. Can he find the money and clear his name?

Other local authors participating in the festival include Raakhee Mirchandanie, Mally Becker, Miriam Allenson, McKevin Shaughnessy, James Hockenberry, Patricia Carragon, Dr. John Muciaccia, Carol Van Den Hende, Robin Rosen Chang, Patricia Keeler, Dawn Barclay (D.M. Barr), Maiya Katherine, Stacey Wilk, and Erica Obey

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