Traquair House

This is Traquair House, home of the Maxwell Stewarts and my inspiration for LEGACY and the paranormals that followed. It's located outside of Edinburgh near the town of Peebles.

LEGACY

LEGACY, my first Scottish paranormal published in 1996, is being reprinted by Source Books, the queen of reprints, according to Loretta Barrett, my literary agent. She didn't really say that, but that was the implied message. I'm happy my book is being reprinted. It was my first paranormal published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, and first books rarely are widely distributed. Having said that, it's a very good book with, what was then, a unique presentation:

            Christina Murray, an American history professor, is informed she's inherited a house in Scotland.  The heroine travels across the Atlantic to meet her dying benefactor, a woman who takes one look at Christina's face and promptly dies. Through a series of troubling dreams featuring three of her ancestors, women who bear a startling resemblance to herself, Christina learns that she is the last of the female line of her family and the recipient of a four hundred-year-old curse. Unless she can absolve her ancestor of a terrible crime, she will meet the fate of Katrine Murray, Jeanne Maxwell and Mairi of Shiels. Legacy is the story of the shared quest of four women related by blood, separated by centuries and cursed by a fatal prophecy.

Release date: Fall-2011

Irish Weddings

My mind has been on weddings lately. My daughter will be marrying next year at this time. Naturally, or maybe not, our ideas of the perfect occasion are not always in sync. She is particular while I am less so. Nevertheless, we manage to plow through our discussions of arrangements without too much acrimony. My ideal wedding would take place in the Ballyseedy Castle Hotel in Tralee, Ireland, a setting reminiscent of the great houses of the Irish Ascendancy, those absentee landlords who withheld food from the masses and forced millions into emigration. My Irish peasant ancestors would be quite delighted to see their own dancing in the great rooms instead of slaving in the kitchen.

We do agree that music is important. The Dublin Diocesan Liturgical Resource Center has come up with a cd for Irish weddings in order to avoid gaffs like: "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," or "Help Me Make it  Through the Night." These might sound odd but they are actual choices, along with "God Give Me Strength" and "The End of the World as We Know It." We, on the other hand, are looking for a good Swing Band, lively, comfortable music for the young and old and those between.

Jeanette Baker's Blog: An Irish Dessert

Jeanette Baker's Blog: An Irish Dessert: "Banoffee pie is the most incredible dessert I've ever tasted and I'm the kind of person who leaves plenty of room for dessert. A delicious l..."

All Things Irish from an American Perspective

I'm obsessed with Ireland, the setting I choose most often for my novels.

I love the green and gray (well maybe not so much the gray) the boiling clouds, the sudden showers followed by glimpses of a reluctant sun. I love the people, the culture, the music, the literature and the food, particularly the banoffee pie. Coming back to Ireland after visiting other countries is like coming home to a place where conversation is more important than the clock, where directions have nothing to do with logic and where afternoon tea isn't complete without homemade brown bread, butter and wild blackberry jam. The people, sturdy, blue-eyed and freckled, look familiar. That's not terribly surprising considering that fifty million Americans claim Irish roots. There are a few things those contemplating an Irish visit should know: crisps in Ireland are potato chips, biscuits are cookies, chips are french fries, a dress size 8 is equal to an Irish size 12 and a 7 1/2 shoe is a Euro size 38 and a UK size 10. 

For photos and more of This and That visit: jeanettebaker.com