That Pink Victorian — What Is It?
For readers who are drawn to stately old houses and the stories they’re eager to tell
Have you ever seen a particular house that seemed to have stories to tell?
A small island town in WA — a real one — is separated from the mainland by a boat channel, and connected to the mainland by a bridge.
And there, on that island, in the midst of things, stands an old house. It’s probably not exactly Victorian: It might be a bit too young. And it’s definitely not pink. In real life, it’s yellow.
And it’s more “interesting” than beautiful.
I’ve been inside it, basement to attic, because once it was for sale and we thought we’d buy it. It had a garden: good. But it lacked the bedrooms we needed, so we let it slip from our fingers.
In slipping away, in forcing the sad truth upon us that it wasn’t the house for us, it left enough of an impression that it became the main symbol, the main character in fact, of a novel I had in mind to write.
This novel grew to a family saga of 108,000 words. It’s the first volume in a series called House of Steele, which will soon swell from the present single volume to perhaps four or five. Or more. This house seems to have a big story to tell.
If you’d like to take a minute or two to preview what happened because of that house (the pink, fiction version), read on:
A young girl, Lily, age 9, lives with her single mom, Katherine, in a tiny, dark, plain cottage that was once a storage shed for the big house. Across the yard stands the old Victorian that was built by Lily’s great great grandfather, John Steele. After several owners, this famous landmark is now occupied by a crotchety old woman who spends her days watching Lily from an upstairs window.
Katherine knows the big house will be hers again. Each generation of her forebears exhorted the next to keep an eye on the house because someday the family would get it back. Owners came and went, and then it was Katherine’s turn to watch and wait. At some point she and Lily would return to the house and restore the family legacy.
So they had to stay in that awful small cottage and pay attention to … whatever might come to pass on that stately property.
Katherine works, and Lily has the run of the town. They have no car, so they walk everywhere, in rain or sun, day or night. Lily is independent, a happy, responsible girl, competent and daring, curious and restless.
Katherine is the opposite, timid, settled into a dull routine. She is above all secretly afraid something will happen to her, and Lily will be taken away and put into foster care.
And then Katherine gets sick.
And Lily grows impatient to know who her dad is.
She asks, but Katherine has promised never to tell, and she’s sticking with it. It’s awkward. He’s well known about town. He would lose his prestigious job. Plus, she promised.
So what happens as Katherine tries to protect an independent daughter from gossip and a lonely future? Convinced she will die, she needs a plan so that no one in that small town ever finds out that Lily is alone, living on her own at age 10 and years to come.
But how can she disappear? Leaving a body behind will not do. Then at last she has an idea.
Will her plan work? And is that a good thing?
Boaters, teachers, the town librarian, and especially the old woman who keeps an eye on Lily from the upstairs window in the pink Victorian — these all tug on Katherine and Lily and make their precarious life more challenging.
And where is Lily’s father when she needs him?
You can read That Old Pink Victorian and tell me what you think of Katherine’s solution. It’s on Kindle as well as paperback. Now is a good time, because Book 2 in this House of Steele Series will be coming out in Spring 2022.
If you know of a house whose story wants to be told, send photos and location and why it inspires you in a comment here, or on Peg Lewis Books on Facebook.
Also if you’d like to be considered as an Advanced Reader (early reader of the free version) of Shadow of the Pink Victorian (House of Steele Series, Book 2), let me know. I’ll send you a questionnaire early in 2022 to see if you’re a match for my Advanced Reader Team. You’d have to read the whole book, write a review, and help spread the word. (Hint: If you’d like to be considered, write reviews of what you are reading now while you wait for Shadow to be completed. You could even write a review of the original book, That Old Pink Victorian.)
That Old Pink Victorian was written in 2020 by Peg Lewis, author of the Always Maggie Series of family sagas of the Pacific Northwest. All are available on Amazon, in Kindle and paperback.
