The House on Crooked Pond

About the Book

It is 2014 when Cape Cod journalist Abigail Jenkins is assigned to interview a once-famous actor, John Linton, The Collector. When she meets this strange man in the deteriorating 1685 Lyman house on Crooked Pond, Abby has no idea of how greatly her own life will be impacted by what he divulges. It is 1712 when The Farrier’s Daughter, Tacy Swift, heads to the Lyman house to care for a new flock of sheep. Soon, Tacy Swift realizes she is intimidated by one Lyman brother and attracted to the other. Now she must decide if her Quaker beliefs will help her endure or whether her defiant nature will lead her elsewhere. When Olivia Lyman, The Matriarch, is betrayed by her family two years after the British bombard Falmouth during the War of 1812, she must somehow find a way to adapt to her new situation. After The Adventurer, Daniel Lyman, makes a fortune in the Klondike, he returns in 1912 to devise an unusual way to take revenge on his abusive older brother. Told as a collection of four novella-length stories, The House on Crooked Pond reveals one family’s compelling secrets as they live centuries apart in an isolated house on Cape Cod.

About the Author

M. L. Shafer is a graduate of Tufts University, past director of the Cape Cod Writers Center, and current director of publicity for the Falmouth Genealogical Society. She is a lover of storytelling, genealogy, and the history and architecture of Cape Cod. Ms. Shafer has published articles in Writer’s Digest Magazine and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and The Journal of the Cape Cod Genealogical Society. She currently lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts.