worked as a bookseller and a knitting pattern designer before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories have been published in numerous literary magazines. Wilgus shares her home with her husband, three children, and their dog.
She applied the Page 69 Test to The Sea Child, her debut novel, with the following results:
I don’t have my author copies of The Sea Child yet, so this is about what’s on page 69 of the US advanced reader copy. Turning to page 69 finds Isabel looking at the sea inlet by her cottage and reflecting on her yearning for the ocean:Visit Linda Wilgus's website.She thinks of the villagers’ belief in the sea spirit shaped like a merman. Could it be that there are things in the ocean of which they have no knowledge? Almost as if in response, the sun appears, lifting the blue into bright iridescence as it hits the water, and the longing to get in and follow the current briefly takes her breath away.Following this, Isabel is learning to cook her own food after being attended to by servants her whole life, and an officer of the Revenue Service, Lieutenant Sowerby, arrives at her door to warn her about smugglers.
It is amazing to me how well the Page 69 Test works for The Sea Child! Keeping in mind that page may end up at a different page number in the finished copy of the book, the reference to Isabel’s connection to the sea and her yearning for it, coupled with the mention of antagonist Sowerby as well as the mention of smugglers gives such a perfect taste of the narrative as a whole. In addition, early on in the novel, Isabel has to learn how to do many basic household tasks herself without the help of servants and this is a key experience for her in the first days and weeks after she moves back to Cornwall from London and adds to her growing sense of independence.
A big part of the plot of the book revolves around smuggling as Isabel becomes involved with the operation run by smuggling captain Jack. Lieutenant Sowerby, who is a Riding Officer of the Revenue Service out to catch smugglers plays an important role in the book as well, as he turns out far more dangerous than he initially seems to Isabel. Aside from that, Isabel’s connection to the sea drives a lot of her actions. At the start of the book she has just returned to the Cornish village in which she was found as a small child, dripping wet and unable to speak, and learns that the local population has come to believe she’s the child of a sea spirit from folklore. As she gets settled in her new home, she attempts to learn more about her mysterious origins. Without giving away too much of the plot I can say that what’s on page 69, at least in my advanced reader copy, gives a great sense of what the book is about.
--Marshal Zeringue
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