>by Susan Meissner

Marielle married a wonderful man, Carson, a widower of five years with two young children.  She agreed to live in his previous wife’s family home, along with Adelaide the matriarch, “for the children’s sake” and to take care of Sara’s grandmother.  It may not be the most comfortable of conditions but, Marielle did love the children and cared very much for Adelaide.

Holly Oak was an historical mansion in Fredricksburg, Virgina, that had survived the Civil War.  It was rumored that Adelaide’s Great Grandmother, Susannah, was a spy for the Union Army and that Holly Oak was haunted.  The truth of the stately mansion is told through Susannah’s letters written to her cousin in Maine during the war.  Susan Meissner brings her characters alive and there is evidence that she has done much research before the telling of A Sound Among the Trees.