Orillia author Jessica Hamilton is set to release her first book, a domestic thriller titled, What You Never Knew.
The 46-year-old Orillia resident and Orillia District Collegiate and Vocational Institute (ODCVI) graduate, began writing the story back in March of 2019. The story follows two sisters, May and June.
“May dies in a car accident right at the beginning of the book, and so June is the only living member of her family left and she finds out about a family cottage that they used to have on an island which is where her father went missing,” Hamilton explained.
“She travels to the island to claim it for herself, but she realizes that her father might not have left and something more sinister might have happened to him. She starts to learn about an affair her mother had with the caretaker of the grounds and all of this ugly family history.”
The novel is loosely based on the cottage that Hamilton spent her childhood summers at in Muskoka.
“I had a family cottage that I was actually in the process of losing while I was writing this novel. It was due to an estrangement with my own mother where she put it up for sale and wouldn’t allow myself to buy it or have any say in it,” Hamilton explained.
“That was a part of my motivation of writing a book. It helped me come to terms with that, and it helped record some of the details about my family cottage that I spent every summer at since I was born.”
While the novel isn’t set in Muskoka, Hamilton believes that most locals will feel a Muskoka vibe while reading it.
‘Because I have an American publisher, I had to set the novel in the States, so it’s set in Lake Champlain, Vermont, but the actual motivation was in Muskoka,” she explained.
While this is Hamilton’s first novel to be published, she had previously written two other books that were rejected by publishers.
“It was a real challenge for me continuing to write and have the perseverance to stay at it and survive the rejection and disappointment,” she said.
For her latest work, Hamilton decided to get creative and put a different spin on her story in order to make the novel unique.
“I think it’s unique because this book has a dead narrator. When May dies at the beginning of the book she continues to be a narrator from the beyond, she comes back and seems to be attached to her younger sister,” she explained.
“May has her own memories, her own experiences, and those come out through her perspective during the story.”
The dead narrator tactic has been done in other books such as The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, which Hamilton’s newest book has been compared to.
Once the book is released, Hamilton plans on donating a copy to the Orillia Public Library as a way for her to give back to the place where her love for books began.
“When I was growing up here in Orillia, I went to the library all the time. I would take out stacks of books all at once,” she explained.
“I really feel like if I didn’t have that library as a child, I would not love books the way that I do, and I would not have gone on to write them.”
Hamilton’s debut novel will be available for purchase on April 13 in Orillia at Manticore Books. The book will also be sold at Indigo Books and Music.
