LUCY BURDETTE: I'm delighted to welcome Ivy aka Melissa Bourbon to the blog today! Aside from writing cozy mysteries, she teaches many wonderful online classes and is a whiz at explaining Pinterest to writers. Welcome Ivy!
IVY CASSIDY: First, let me just say how happy I am to be here with the Jungle Red Writers. Truly. If you’d told me years ago that I’d be talking about magical houses and ancestral secrets on this blog, I would have said, “Heck yeah! Sign me up!”
When I started writing House of Spells and Secrets, I thought I was writing a story about three sisters coming home after their mother’s death. And I was. But I also knew I wanted a house that had almost equal billing and opinions of its own because I love an old house with history.
Swallow Hall sits on the Chesapeake Bay on fictional Bird Island. It's crumbling a bit, it’s moody, and it's watchful. As I was writing it, I kind of envisioned the Winchester Mystery House in Santa Clara, California, a place where doorways lead to nowhere, windows are upside down, and everything is topsy-turvy. Swallow Hall is the kind of place that holds drafts in its hallways and secrets in its walls. It’s not haunted in a “boo!” kind of way. It’s haunted in the way families are haunted…by what was never said, by what was buried for protection, and by love that inevitably led to loss.
The novel follows triplets—Rowan, Caraline, and Saoirse—who return to their mother’s childhood home…a home they never even knew about, complete with a grandmother they'd never met.
There they discover inherited magic.
This isn't a cauldron-stirring, sparkly wand kind of magic. It's the kind of magic that exists deep inside. It's inherited magic that comes from Biddy Early, who was a real person and the last woman tried for witchcraft in Ireland in the 1850s. It's the kind of magic that shows up as intuition…as knowing. It's like that tightening in your chest when something is wrong.
Rowan (my point-of-view sister) hasn't discovered her magic yet. She tastes things,… but what kind of magic is that? Caraline is a kitchen witch. She processes life through flour and fire. And Saoirse, a green witch, is most at home in her apothecary and with her plants.
Together, the three sisters are stronger. Apart, they’re…complicated.
At its heart, this book is about inheritance, not just of a mysterious house, but of expectation, of legacy, and of power you didn’t ask for but can’t turn your back on.
I didn’t grow up in a magical manor on the Bay (sadly), but I do understand what it feels like to come back to a place and see it differently. To realize that the stories you were told as a child were edited versions. To recognize that the women who came before you were carrying more than they let on.
That’s the space I love to write in.
My Ivy Cassidy books lean into magical realism, which for me means the magic never overwhelms the emotion. Rather, it supports it. Maybe grief feels bigger or love feels more layered. And in the case of House of Spells and Secrets, the past doesn’t stay politely tucked away. It breathes and pulses with life.
And then there's the Chesapeake Bay setting! I think that water keeps secrets. Tides pull things out and drag other things under. There's a real island on the Chesapeake Bay that's sinking (Tangier Island in Virginia) and that was a great inspiration for Bird Island and Swallow Hall. It felt like the perfect backdrop for a story about these sisters discovering their truth, whether they're ready for it or not.
Ultimately, House of Spells and Secrets is about three sisters coming home and discovering family, history, magic, and themselves.
I’m curious. Do you love a house with a little personality? Do you believe places remember us? Or are we the ones doing the remembering?
I can’t wait to hear what you think and for you to dig into House of Spells and Secrets!
About Ivy Cassidy:
Ivy Cassidy writes stories steeped in whispered legends, ancestral secrets, and the quiet magic, all woven into the threads of everyday life. Her novels explore generational bonds, intuitive women, and the unseen forces that shape who we become.
Also known as Melissa Bourbon, Ivy leans more deeply into magical realism and emotional resonance, crafting stories where the past meets the present and long-buried secrets rise, steady and inevitable.
When she’s not writing, she’s walking her dogs, sipping something warm, and dreaming up stories with a soft shimmer around the edges.
Oh, my . . . this sounds incredible, Ivy. I can't wait to visit Swallow Hall and meet the sisters.
ReplyDeleteI love old houses . . . perhaps they remember us as much as we remember them . . . .
I love a house with personality! Our former house had a firepole! It went from the main floor to the basement. The house was never a fire station, so we don’t know what prompted a former owner to install it. The owner just before us replaced it, so it was in good condition and fun to use.
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