Autorentext

Vanessa F. Penney was born in northern Newfoundland and raised in rural Nova Scotia. The coal-black ocean depths and bone-buried shorelines of the East Coast inspire her writing. Vanessa lives in Dartmouth, NS. This is her first novel.

Klappentext

COZY FEMINIST GOTHIC MYSTERY • FIERCE FEMALE LEAD • BRAM STOKER PRELIMINARY BALLOT SELECTION • 2025 CIBA BOOKSELLERS LIST SELECTION

A missing aunt. A village built on fear. A past that won’t stay buried.

When Madeline—an elderly recluse long rumored to be a witch—vanishes without a trace, her estranged niece Fade is forced to return to the remote forests of Willow Sound, Nova Scotia, she thought she’d left behind forever.

But nothing in Willow Sound is as she remembers.

Madeline’s once-warm cottage stands abandoned and decaying, the air thick with the unmistakable scent of something burned. As Fade searches for answers, she’s drawn into the neighboring village of Grand Tea—a community living in fear beneath a massive, teetering rock that threatens to crush them at any moment.

Desperate for someone to blame for their growing misfortunes, the villagers have spent decades weaving dark myths about Madeline, branding her a witch. Now, with a hurricane fast approaching and tensions rising, Fade must untangle truth from superstition before things turn deadly.

Inspired by East Coast folklore and witchcraft traditions, The Witch of Willow Sound is a modern gothic tale about family, fear, and the power of confronting the past.