From Out of the Woodwork: A Tale of Ghostly Proportions

REL-MAR McConnell Media Company, 2013. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 29 Livery Lane, a century house, once a house of some distinction and class now, fallen into disrepair, is purchased by Sean Kennedy. Sean, a contractor in Toronto, buys old houses, guts them and turns them into multi- family monstrosities... slums waiting to happen. When he starts work on his latest project, 29 Livery Lane, he encounters visions of former owners. At first, he is stunned by these apparitions, but as time moves on he welcomes them. Through these visions he learns about the house and some of the nine former owners. As a result of what he learns he decides to restore the old house not destroy it for profit. The apparitions come to him when he touches books, reads letters, rummages through old boxes, finds a locket or reads a manuscript of a murder mystery. Through his many visions Sean gradually learns about the house, the way it looked in grander days and the fate of nine former owners, who left their indelible marks upon the house. The Phillips family, the original owners, left a story of love, closeness of family and a sea voyage, also the story of Stanley Renton, best-selling author, arrested for a murder which took place in the old house. The story of the Kennedys, the present owners, is also one of love and family closeness and the deadly days of the terrorist's attacks on the Trade Centre Towers in New York, September 11, 2001. Sean, through his research, meets Stanley Renton the only living, former owner. Sean and his family become very close friends with Stanley, during the restoration period. When an apparition of a young mother and her daughter appears to Sean he figures that the daughter, Angelina Weston, could still be living and she might be able to shed some light upon the house and the way it looked. His meeting with Angelina turns into a warm friendship with this woman, now in her late eighties. The friendship blossoms and grows to include Stanley Renton as well. The tales of the former owners lead Sean down many paths over a one-hundred-year period... from a trip on the St. Lawrence River in a small boat in the early 1900s to the recapture of a violent murderer in Niagara-on-the Lake, in 2001. The closing chapter of the book connects the Kennedy's, the new owners, to the Phillips, the first owners. Stephen Phillips sends his wife and two children to Ireland to visit her mother and books their return on a cruise ship, April 10, 1912. Sean Kennedy also books a holiday for his wife and two children to visit her mother and father in England and then meet him in Boston, on September 10, 2001. Where they plan to continue on to Los Angeles and Disney Land the next day, September 11, 2001.