Fascinated by ghosts, who me? Well, a bit, I confess. Thus the reason they appear here and there in various of my books. A standout ghost stars in my vintage American Christmas Romance Somewhere the Bells Ring.
The ghosts in my stories do not always take the same form, though. Some are sensed and seen only in the character’s mind. Or in dreams. One is a violent poltergeist. Some are old loves…
In Somewhere the Bells Ring, the ghost seems perfectly real and when Bailey is with him, she’s transported back from 1968 to 1918 and the end of World War One in the same old house.
This is my favorite sort of ghost. Some of the most intriguing stories I’ve ever come across involve ghosts who appear quite solid, not at all vaporous, and give the person seeing them a glimpse of the past as though through a window in time. And who’s to say that isn’t what’s happening? Maybe a ripple opens up and allows a glimpse of what once was and those who lived in that time and place?
Can they see us in turn? Maybe so. And can there be communion with these corporeal spirits from the past? Possibly. That’s the premise for this story.
“When I see ghosts they look perfectly real and solid — like a living human being. They are not misty; I can’t see through them; they don’t wear sheets or bloody mummy bandages. They don’t have their heads tucked under their arms. They just look like ordinary people, in living color, and sometimes it is hard to tell who is a ghost.” ~Chris Woodyard
“I have thought that I have seen ghosts on many occasions.” Taylor Caldwell
“With true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.” ~Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“I fell in love with Ms. Trissel’s characters and look forward to the next delightful story ready with Kleenex box in hand. A must read for every romance fan.”~ Robin at Romancing the Book Reviews for Somewhere the Bells Ring
Somewhere the Bells Ring is a haunting story of timeless love, and of course, it’s true.
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.
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?
*An old photograph of the Virginia family home place the house in Somewhere the Bells Ring is based on.
***Somewhere the Bells Ring is available in various eBook formats from The Wild Rose Press, Amazon Kindle, All Romance Ebooks, Barnes & Noble’s Nookbook and other online booksellers.
