Guest Post & Giveaway: Anjali Banerjee, author of Haunting Jasmine
Please welcome Anjali Banerjee, author of the new novel, Haunting Jasmine!
Real Places as Inspiration for Haunting Jasmine, by Anjali Banerjee
In my current novel, Haunting Jasmine, Jasmine Mistry – a bitter, newly divorced and harried L.A. businesswoman – returns to a rainy Pacific Northwest island to run her aunt’s dusty old bookstore for a month while her aunt is in India. Her aunt conveniently fails to mention the ghosts of dead authors haunting the bookstore. These literary spirits become mentors to Jasmine, helping her to slow down, remake her life and fall in love with a mysterious stranger.
[amazonify]0425238717[/amazonify]I began writing the book with a spark of an idea: what if dead authors could come to life and urge people to read their books? I pictured mischievous phantoms flitting around in a haunted Victorian mansion like the Walker-Ames house in Port Gamble, WA (pictured at top left). Recognized as a Rural Historic Town, the quaint village of Port Gamble sits at the north end of the Olympic Peninsula, about forty minutes’ drive from my home in Port Orchard. Entering the town is like stepping back in time. Lined with preserved and restored Victorian mansions, Port Gamble is reportedly one of the most haunted places in our state. Many paranormal investigators have documented unusual phenomena there, from cold spots to EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) and actual ghost sightings.
The Walker-Ames house is apparently the site of much of the town’s paranormal activity. Built in 1888-1889, the Walker-Ames mansion’s ornate front entrance faces the bay, as most important visitors arrived by sea in the late 1800s. Cyrus Walker, superintendant of the Puget Sound Mill Company, built the house from local lumber and most likely shipped in the stained glass and other furnishings from Boston and St. Louis. When Walker retired, the home went to his son-in-law Edwin Ames – thus giving the house its hyphenated name.
I was lucky enough to tour the mansion as research for Haunting Jasmine. Although the house is now empty,
I pictured the rooms cleaned up and full of antiques and book shelves. In my mind, I added Kashmiri wall hangings, Tiffany lamps, a tea room, office, and apartment in the attic.
I imagined the interior as a bit like The Dauntless Bookstore, also in a haunted Victorian mansion and situated right next door to the Walker-Ames house. Lyn Playle, the owner, sells new as well as used and rare books and has a wonderful bookstore cat named Katie (thus I created Jasmine’s two cats, Monet and Mary). Is Lyn’s bookstore haunted? You might have to visit and find out! Thank you for stopping by!
Giveaway
One lucky winner will receive a copy of Haunting Jasmine, courtesy of Penguin Group!
Mandatory entry: Please comment here and tell me something you enjoyed about this guest post.
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This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on March 4, 2011.
Giveaway copy is provided free of any obligation by Penguin Group USA. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Authors, Guest Posts
I enjoyed learning about the Walker-Ames House.
Please enter me in this giveaway!
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I found it interesting how the author deveoped their ideas for this book.
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This story sounds sweet–I like the friendly ghost mentors!
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I have been out of the country, on vacation, and am happy to return in time to post my hopes of winning this book! Just the picture of the mansion used as the setting of the book, the words hauntings, dusty book shelves, bookstore are enough to excite me and make me want to read the book!
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I really loved the author’s reasoning for this book: “I began writing the book with a spark of an idea: what if dead authors could come to life and urge people to read their books?”
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great interview. i like how the author got the idea with the hauntings. thanks for the giveaway. :]
I enjoyed reading about the Walker-Ames house and how there might be paranormal activity going on inside! Spooky!
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This sounds like a wonderful story. I can’t wait to read it.
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I enjoyed this interview..enjoyed visuallizing with the author the setting in the mansion for her story.
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I enjoyed learning about where the author came up with the idea for the book.
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I enjoyed the fact that the author actually toured a mansion as part of her research for her book. That’s very cool
Thank you for this opportunity!
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I like that you could imagine the house as you read the book-for me a good book always lets you imagine visions.
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I really enjoyed Anjali telling how a little gem of an idea about dead authors led to a great premise! Thanks for the info and chance to win.
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dead author haunting a book store you got me hooked…i love anything paranormal and haunted
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Sounds like a historical thrilling read – hope to win. – Very descriptive.
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I enjoyed learning how the author built up her idea for this novel, and how she visualized the empty mansion with furniture and bookshelves.
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Can I just say how gorgeous the Walker-Ames house is! I am a HUGE fan of old, restored homes as well as sites that are apparently haunted
. I am not sure how much I believe in hauntings and the paranormal, but I am still fascinated by it and try to do ghost tours and view historic homes as much as possible. Since I live in Florida I have had the pleasure of being able to go to St. Augustine quite a lot and it is one of my all time favorite places. I actually almost went to college there just so I could immerse myself in the history. I have done a few different walking ghost tours in St. Augustine, as well as toured the Spanish fortress they have there, but have not been able to encounter any feelings of the paranormal. I have had a creepy experience at an older home in Quincy, FL and again when I went to Scotland (both times I entered a room – in Quincy it was the attic and in Scotland it was a church rectory – and I felt like I could not breath and every hair on my body stood on end! I had this shivery, creepy feeling all over and both times had to run out of the room 
. Now, I don’t know if that means the place was haunted but it is the closest I have ever come to feeling like MAYBE I was experiencing something. In the meantime I watch Ghost Hunters every week to get my fix 
!
You had me at dead authors haunting a bookstore. Sounds fab!
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Dead authors haunting a book store? What’s not to love. I would love to read this.
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I love the part where the author explains what sparked the idea – the ghosts of dead authors and such. This sounds awesome
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I love the whole concept of dead authors haunting a bookstore and love reading about the inspiration for the house in the book. I would love to read this book.
Please enter me in contest. I love the house. It is beautiful. I would love to read the book. Tore923@aol.com
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I like the pictures of the beautiful house showed here – I love it! Gorgeous – would love to win this giveaway.
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I enjoy the idea of a haunted mansion. I also like how she got to tour a mansion so her writing portrays real rooms.
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I love the idea of a haunted Victorian Home. There are a lot of Victorian homes in my area and every year around Halloween they have a walking Haunted tour and tell the stories of the alleged hauntings as we pass by each house that has a story. I know I’ll be picturing my own neighborhood while reading this book.
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Port Gambel sounds like a hauntingly fun place to visit! Our small town of Guthrie, OK is know for it’s historical Victorian downtown and boasts a few such “haunted” mansions also. Lots of fun to see and visit.
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This book sounds fantastic!I would love to win a copy of Haunting Jasmine! What I really liked in the guest post was the author visiting Walker-Ames mansion and imaging it filled with wonderful antiques and books just like in her book!
[...] HAUNTING JASMINE GIVEAWAY on Luxury Reading. What an honor to post a guest blog on using real places as inspiration for the setting in a [...]
Would love to win Haunting Jasmine. Sounds like such a wonderful adventure!I hope I am in the right place!!!
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I think it is interesting the author actually got a tour of the house.
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I really enjoyed the background info about Port Gamble, WA and the Walker-Ames house
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Love that the story is set in Washington state!
It sounds so descriptive that I felt I was there! Love the Pacific Northwest as a setting for novels – it adds to the background of the novel – especially one where a haunting is in the forefront!
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My favorite part of the interview were the great photos- really made the interview!
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Please count me in. Sounds interesting.
Although I live in Washington state, I’ve not had the opportunity to spend any time in Port Gamble. Now that I’ve read this post, I’ll have to definitely make the time.
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