Behind Eleanor's Garden: The Haunted Grounds

In my last post I tucked in a note about my new novel. Eleanor's Garden arrives this Saturday, October 31, so today I would like to walk you around the grounds before the doors open.

Jessi and the question

Jessica Stuart inherits her Great-Aunt's estate and believes her luck has finally changed. Then the strange occurrences begin in the garden, and Jessi starts to question what is real and what is only a fragment of a dream.

“It was only a dream, she insisted. wasn't it?”

Standard trope for anyone who reads the genre. Yet this is only the shell of what is inside.

When I began writing about Jessi, I started to pour a lot of personal experiences within a very short time period for Jessi's introduction. And of course I took liberties. I needed to make her life fall apart and cause her to be desperate enough for what was to transpire.

I showed no mercy...

Inside Mora Estate

Step inside Mora Estate and the house keeps its own curiosities. A library. A hall of tapestries. A grand staircase. An indoor pool. Every one of them is in the novel, along with many more rooms. And every one of the holds a key to the mystery surrounding the matrons of Mora Estate.

We see most of Mora Estate as Jessi roams the halls at night. At night, alone in the manor, she encounters a lot of strange occurrences. I will not say which room does what, but the Winter Garden is pivotal. So is the indoor pool. So are the statues...

As with all of my stories, I try to ground the story and location in reality. In order to see Mora Estate, I needed to live it per se. I loosely based the floor plan on the Vanderbilt mansion in North Carolina, then made a lot of changes. Think of it as a starting point, not a copy.

The grounds

Though the interior plays a substantial role as you are learning about Mora herself, the grounds are where the story really thrives. Picture abandoned gardens, rose bushes, wildflowers and a decaying greenhouse. Nothing here has been tended in a long time. Yet all of it is still alive. At the center of the gardens stands the main fountain statue, a key feature of the book.

Why a garden

A haunted house is expected. A haunted garden is stranger, because a garden is alive. It grows while nobody is watching. It comes back every year whether or not anyone wants it to.

The description of the book calls the garden “less like a location and more like a living presence.” That is the idea at the center of it: a place that watches, reacts and reveals.

So why a garden? I cannot give you one reason. I draw on a lot of different resources when I write, and I cannot pin down just one. Burnt Offerings, the book and the movie, is in there. So is nearly every haunted house movie and book I have read or seen my whole life. The Eleusinian Mysteries are another inspiration, and the fountain carries a piece of it.

Where to find it

Eleanor's Garden is available now in paperback and eBook (a little ahead of schedule thanks to Amazon), the novel only: Paperback on Amazon and eBook on Amazon. If you would like the keepsake, the Collector's Edition hardcover is also available. It includes the botanical illustrations I created and insight into the mythology that inspired the novel: Collector's Edition on Amazon.

Which room would you open first? Tell me in the comments. I read every one.

And if you would like something to listen to while you read, Nova Rayne's song “Eleanor's Garden” is out the same day. Keep an eye on her page and links will drop when available. Or follow her on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Music. Links are on her page. I write every song, and the music is AI assisted, powered through Suno.