The Mirror

Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of death by suicide, and physical and emotional abuse.

Since the grand doors of the Poole Manor opened in 1794, the house has witnessed joys, triumphs, and tragedies. The manor remembers each event and every Poole who has inhabited it and experienced the nightmares within. Many manor inhabitants still live out those nightmares, waiting to be rescued.

After Hester Dobbs murdered Astrid Grandville Poole on her wedding day, she died by suicide, binding the manor with her curse. The six Poole brides who dared to make the manor their home since that day have died as well, as the curse lives on through generations. The seven brides and other dead inhabitants of Poole Manor entered a great mirror, where their memories live. These memories are what Sonya MacTavish stepped into as the mirror exerted its pull on her at the end of Inheritance, the first book in The Lost Bride trilogy.

Now, Sonya grips her cousin Owen’s hand as they are transported into the Poole Manor ballroom in 1916. The people at Lisbeth Poole’s wedding reception cannot see Sonya and Owen, and the cousins can pass through them; the experience is unpleasant, like wading through mud.