Based on the Gothic mental institution located north of Boston, in Danvers, Massachusetts, Lost Souls of the Witches’ Castle is a story within a story. Dana Etheridge and Nick DeSantis meet on the grounds of the closed facility. Dana is an RN who had done her psychiatric training there ten years ago and Nick is a photojournalist writing a book about Danvers State. Within moments of meeting, they’re drawn to each other. With the help of a journal written by a former patient who was placed there in 1919, they discover their own destiny and the powerful effect of love.
The pages of Emily Patterson’s journal capture the anger, confusion and despair of the horrors and injustices within the institution’s walls. Many of the lost souls that resided there were ignored in death as well as life. But in 1998 a committee was formed and 768 graves were discovered on the grounds of the institution, each one marked only with a numbered marker.
A memorial service was held to acknowledge these people and the release of balloons represented the letting go of the stigma of the past and the beginning of a new age of respect and dignity for people with mental illness. For Dana and Nick, the release of the balloons also symbolizes what they had to release in themselves in order to find their destiny and the connection of their souls.
"Lost Souls ... is a slendid, and often unsettling, ... novel full of honesty, charm, heart and good humor." -- John Dufresne, Author of Louisiana Power & Light and Deep In the Shade of Paradise
A gripping tale of secrets forced to keep, and a modern day couple forever changed by fate. -- - Rose Valle, Pen Names Bookstore, Cedar Key, FL, August, 2002
About the Author
Terri DuLong is a native of the Boston area. For the past three years she has been a contributing writer for Bonjour Paris, writing articles on her experiences and travels to France. Ms. DuLong now resides in Florida with her husband, two cats and a dog and is a practicing registered nurse. She is currently at work on her second novel.
Author of the acclaimed women's fiction Cedar Key Series and NY Times/USA Today best seller, Terri DuLong is the author of Spinning Forward (Kensington Books, November 2009). Born and reared in the Boston area . . . Salem, the Witch City, to be exact, DuLong was an only child, who relied on imaginary friends for playmates. All these years later, she believes those playmates (and her love for books) led her to her passion for writing. Married young, with three children, then divorced, Terri went to college to become a legal secretary. After remarrying, with the children getting older, she decided to pursue a career as a Registered Nurse. She also continued her love for reading women's fiction. As for her own writing, well it was limited to extremely long letters to friends and keeping a journal. After working in Critical Care as an R.N., the thought of writing "seriously" became stronger, and Terri took a creative writing class at college. Encouraged by the professor, Terri began writing with the hope of publication. With the transfer of her husband's job to the Tampa, Florida, area, she began to work part-time as a home health RN and devote more and more time to writing. She began attending writers' conferences to not only improve her craft of writing but also to understand the complicated world of publishing. Attending more and more writers' conferences, networking, reading, always working on her writing, Terri never gave up. She couldn't. Writing was her passion and filled her soul. Queries went out; rejections came back. But she noticed the rejections were now not form letters but very nice personal correspondence. Believing there had to be an agent, editor or publisher out there who would love her work, she kept writing. When Terri's husband retired in 2004, the couple relocated two hours north to Cedar Key, an island off the west coast of Florida. They knew from many previous visits that the small town, surrounded as it is by Mother Nature, was the perfect place for them. And Terri's muse went into high gear . . . lots of quirky characters, people who actually waved to you and knew your name, a place that touched her soul. She was in her element. She wrote a women's novel set in Cedar Key, and then she attended the Romance Writers of America Conference, summer 2007. Upon returning home, she sent off a query to Kensington Books with the required first three chapters, promptly forgot about it and got on with life . . . until December 11, 2007. That was when Terri received an e-mail from her editor's assistant, requesting the full manuscript. And on Feb. 26, 2008, Terri was offered a two-book contract from Kensington. Her debut women's fiction novel--the first in her Cedar Key series--was released Oct. 27, 2009. Now in its second printing, Spinning Forward has been named a finalist for "Long Contemporary Novel" in the 2010 New England Reader's Choice Bean Pot Awards. And Reader's Digest has bought the rights to release Spinning Forward in a Condensed Special Edition in December 2010. Book 2 in Terri's Cedar Key series, Casting About, was published by Kensington Books Oct. 26, 2010. Readers can also catch Terri's first novella for Kensington--A Cedar Key Christmas--in the Fern Michaels holiday anthology, Holiday Magic, released November 2010 and a NY Times & USA Today Best Seller. Book 3, Sunrise On Cedar Key, was released November 2011 and Book 4 will hit shelves in 2012. Meanwhile, Terri's motto remains the one that has made so many of her dreams reality: "Believe in yourself and make great things happen."
This review is from: Lost Souls of the Witches' Castle (Paperback)
Terri DuLong's premier novel grabs you by the heart and soul and keeps you there. A real page turner, you will not be able to put it down. Terri does a masterful job at developing her main characters, even after you have turned the last page, you will be thinking about them for days. Her plot line is one of mystery and intrigue and it promises not to leave you flat. Lost Souls as a love story, takes you on a spiritual journey across a bridge to eternity. A delightful read!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 starsA timeless love story, September 3, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Lost Souls of the Witches' Castle (Paperback)
I was intrigued by Terri DuLong's novel Lost Souls of the Witches' Castle, because of my childhood memories of riding past this eerie, real-life institution in the back seat of my parent's car. Terri DuLong has masterfully intertwined a story of two loves, decades apart. A gripping tale of a lost and lonely resident at Danvers State Institution, the secrets those who worked there were forced to keep, and a modern day couple who will be forever changed by fate. A story of how true love will never be denied. - R.V. Pen Names Bookstore, Cedar Key, FL
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This review is from: Lost Souls of the Witches' Castle (Paperback)
This book had me so absorbed that I could not put it down and continued to read until I finished it. It took me all morning and some of the afternoon to finish. I sure can't wait for another book by Ms DuLong. She held me hostage for about 8 glorious hours. This author has great potential.
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