Background Story

Lure

The idea for Lure came at me like a pie in the face. It was the morning of August 21, 2009 and - on my way to a local paint store - I had parked my car outside a little white clapboard house just a stone’s throw from Yonge Street. Two signs on the house immediately caught my attention. The first one: Thornhill Village Public Library. The second: Mrs. Ellen Ramsden, née Frizzell. 1851. And just like that (as the title of this novel implies), I was pulled in by a force bigger than I understood. Although I had no idea yet what the story would be about, I was absolutely certain in that moment this little old building would be the subject of my next novel.

Excited about the potential for a new project, I ran through the door asking for information about the library. I must not have been making too much sense because the stunned librarian on duty offered me a list of the hours of operation and a pamphlet detailing the overdue fines. Undaunted, I went home to clear my thoughts and do some research. It didn’t take long to discover the long documented history of paranormal activity associated with the library. The building was haunted.

Brilliant. My book would be a ghost story.

For the next month, I put everything in my life aside so I could write Lure ‘in the moment’ - capturing the sights and sounds of Thornhill in the dying days of summer. I wrote into the early hours of the morning every night, driven by the need to finish the book before the season changed. I used the actual history of the house as well as many of the documented ghost sightings from the library as a ‘real-life’ foundation for my fictional semi-historical ghost story.

Following are some photos (past and present) of 10 Colborne Street.