She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there. After her mother introduced her to the Brontës as a teenager, her affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in fog.
Kennedy applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, and reported the following:
From page 69:Visit Paulette Kennedy's website.Loretta turned to look. It was the Robberson house. The bare-bulbed porch light cast a shallow cone of yellow across the sagging porch and overgrown yard. The house's dark upper windows winked forebodingly. "I don't know about that one, Char."I think the Page 69 Test works well for the The Devil and Mrs. Davenport in that it conveys the undercurrent of suspicion running through the fictional Missouri town of Myrna Grove following the murder of a young woman. Even though there's a lot of nostalgia for the 1950s, paranoia was rampant in America at the time, tucked away under the congenial facade of suburbia. Readers opening to this page, which takes place on Halloween night, would get a sense of the overall feel of the entire novel. Prying neighbors, families with dark secrets, the nature of good and evil--and how closely they intersect, even in the actions of well-intentioned people--are all central elements to the plot of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport. This scene may only be one small part of the whole, but it gives readers a taste of what they can expect from the rest of the story.
"Why not?"
Loretta remembered Phyllis's gossiping and conjecturing about the man who lived there--that he might have had something to do with Darcy's kidnapping and murder. She thought of the man--she didn't even know his name, only that he was the Robbersons' nephew--tall, pale, thin, and balding. The few times she'd seen him, he'd put her in mind of an undertaker. Might he be capable of the crime? As a light came on upstairs, and she saw the man's shadow move behind the curtains, Loretta felt ashamed that this unkind part of herself had reared up. She reasoned with herself to slake the shame. She was only being protective. Not judgmental like Phyllis.
Pete would be home soon. They needed to hurry. She took Charlotte's hand and gently coaxed her forward. "There are three more houses on this side of the street. We'll go to them and then head home. You need a proper supper before you eat this candy. How about tomato soup and grilled cheese?"
The Devil and Mrs. Davenport is about a young midcentury housewife and mother, Loretta, who begins hearing the voices of the dead after a short illness. Wondering if this new ability is her longed-for calling from God, Loretta seeks counsel from her husband, an ambitious Bible college professor, who says her gifts are only fevered hallucinations, or worse yet--delusions of Satan. Unable to ignore the messages from beyond, Loretta finds support and encouragement through Dr. Curtis Hansen, a parapsychologist who helps Loretta embrace her abilities and hone them, leaving Loretta at a turning point. She can either heed her calling, in defiance of her husband's wishes, or ignore the pleading spirits and return to her dutiful, isolated life.
The Page 69 Test: Parting the Veil.
--Marshal Zeringue
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