by Wendy Webb
As for Nate, he has not visited me, not yet anyway. I often wonder if he stays away because he sees how happy I am with Richard. But I ache to see him again, to hear his laughter, to look into his eyes. His last words to me were I’ll be seeing you, Norrie Harper. I hope, with every part of my being, that he will. If not in this world, then in the next.
And Cliffside itself? It burned to the ground that night. Diana told me that people in the area say the property has a malevolence about it, a residue of the evil that took hold of that beautiful and rugged coastline when Temperance was born. Parents caution their children to keep away from there, but they don’t have to be warned. They can feel it.
And so, we are at the end of my strange tale. I don’t think I’ll speak of it ever again. I want to get on with my future with Richard and bury the memory of Temperance Dare in the past forever.
But I will leave you with a word of warning. If ever a feeling of dread or foreboding overcomes you, and if ever you feel pulled to a place, inexplicably, the way I did, take heed. It may be trying to tell you—something wicked your way comes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I was inspired to write this story by tales I’ve heard about a real TB sanatorium that was located on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior in Bayfield, Wisconsin. It was called Pureair Sanatorium, aptly named for the crisp, pure, Lake Superior air that swirls through the forests there. My grandfather was a patient at Pureair back in the day and recovered. My great-aunt, however, died there as a girl. They really were called “waiting rooms for death,” because there was little doctors could do to treat tuberculosis. Confined to a sanatorium and isolated from the population at large, people with TB just waited to either get better or . . . not.
The sanatorium is long since gone—one of the best restaurants in the area arose in its place decades later on what’s still called Old San Road—but many institutions like it have been repurposed into golf clubs and other types of recreational retreats throughout the country.
When I was just beginning to formulate the idea for this book, I was giving a talk at a high school near Bayfield and one of the teachers asked what I was currently working on. I told her I was thinking of setting a tale at the Pureair Sanatorium, imagining it had not been torn down but instead repurposed into a retreat for artists and writers. Her eyes lit up. “I grew up here and used to babysit for the family that lived in the former doctor’s house on the san grounds,” she said to me. “This was before the san itself was torn down. I was always terrified. Parents in this area used to get their kids to behave by threatening to drop them off at the old, abandoned san. Everyone who grew up here was scared to death of the place.”
A tingle went up my spine and I knew I had the right setting for this rather dark and twisted tale.
As always, I have several people to thank for the help they gave me as I brought this story to life. My friend David Hileman’s father was in a TB sanatorium when he was a young man. He used to tell Dave stories about leading nightly forays out of the san and getting into mischief with the other patients. I believe chickens were involved at some point. Thank you, Dave, for sharing those stories with me. Archie Abbott is based on your dad. I can just hear your mom and dad clinking glasses and toasting that one.
To my friend and agent Jennifer Weltz, you are a treasure. Not only do you make me laugh every time I talk to you, but you are my greatest supporter and champion. I don’t know where I’d be without you and your stellar team at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency but I certainly wouldn’t be putting the finishing touches on my fourth book and starting my fifth.
To Faith Black Ross and Danielle Marshall, thank you both for loving this story and for all of the work you did to make Temperance’s terrifying tale the best it could be.
To all of the bookstore owners and booksellers who have placed my books into customers’ hands over the years—you have made my career. I am truly grateful for your support and your friendship and I will do everything I can to bring readers into your stores for events, should you be kind enough to ask me back.
To Pamela Klinger-Horn, one of the strongest champions of authors in the Twin Cities (I like to call her the warrior princess of books), I hope you know how much each and every author whose life you have touched appreciates your hard work and dedication. We are truly lucky to have you in our collective corner. Now you must take a picture of this book with your dog and post it online.
And to you, the reader holding this book in your hands right now. I’ve met many of you on my book tours, and I want you to know that I really do write with you in mind and I’m so grateful you’ve read my books. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this tale. I’ll have another one for you very soon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo 2010 © Steve Burmeister,
Wendy Webb knew from the minute she read A Wrinkle in Time at age eleven that she was destined to be a writer. After two decades as a journalist, writing for varied publications including USA Today, the Huffington Post, the Star Tribune, Midwest Living, and others, Wendy wrote her first novel, The Tale of Halcyon Crane. When it won the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for genre fiction, she started writing fiction full-time. Her second and third novels, The Fate of Mercy Alban and The Vanishing, established her as a leading suspense novelist, who reviewers are calling the Queen of the Northern Gothic. She lives in Minneapolis with her part-time dog, Zeus, and is at work on her next novel. Visit her online at www.wendykwebb.com and on Facebook and Instagram as wendywebbauthor.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CONTENTS
START READING
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
