Santiago’s Purple Skies at Morning’s Light

This haunting Speculative Fiction novel will carry you from Ireland, to remote northern Ontario, to the big city of Toronto and all the way to Jamaica. The teenage heroine, Irish-Canadian, Kathleen Dunkley, was desperate to leave her haunting pasts and horrific tragedies behind her.

Through her coming-of-age journey, Kathleen soon learns that the witch of Rose Hall was originally from Irish stock and there is also a mysterious ghost boy called Santiago, inhabiting the house where she is staying. Kathleen is left to ponder why spooks have caught up with her, and if her new found Chinese-Jamaican friend, David Chang, can help to defend her from harm.

This moving story of survival is a page turner for just about anyone that likes adventure.

Teenaged, Irish-Canadian, Kathleen Dunkley, is a survivor in this engaging Speculative Fiction novel. She is exposed to some of life's most trying traumas and still manages to come out on top even as she is followed by the incessant howling of a seemingly ever-present wolf.

Travel from Ireland, to small town Canada, to the hustle-bustle of Toronto, then with a strange shift in plot, all the way to Jamaica with this young heroine who has to overcome her haunted past and what seems like real live ghosts. Be prepared to suspend your disbelief as you read this, believable, memoiresk style fiction.

    Despite tragic upheaval, forced relocation and haunting memories Kathleen forges ahead into a new beginning, where she makes new friends and experiences unexpected visitations from the spirit world. Unknown to her the plantation house she is staying in, near Montego Bay, is haunted by a mysterious long-dead Spanish boy, Santiago, for whom the house is named.

    Bernadette Dyer brings suspense and mystery to her well written story with real life characters and realistic dialogue. A long with Kathleen's sightings of strange phantoms, she is also subject to visitations from the spirit of the White Witch of Rose Hall, who had lived in the neighbouring plantation and was rumoured to have murdered plantation-slave lovers. Events come to a head when Kathleen and her new-found friend, Chinese-Jamaican, historical researcher, David Chang stumble upon undisturbed bones of mythical long dead slaves.

    Bernadette Dyer successfully blends the ghostly activities of fiction with well researched local history of Jamaica. Colourful history, infamous spirits and ghostly activities cannot compare to the most evil of all, the White Witch of Rose Hall, a long dead notorious slave owner from Jamaica's historic past. By the time you finish reading this spell binding novel you might just be a believer in the supernatural.