The Magic of Small Towns

Something about small beach towns in Massachusetts feels magical. It’s the charming streets lined with Cape Cod-style homes and the way the town’s heartbeat makes you feel like you’re on permanent vacation. This sense of magic became the perfect backdrop for my novel. However, the story is so much more than just a quaint setting. The real inspiration came from my own experiences living in a town like this, where I led a Wiccan ministry and formed unlikely friendships with people of different faiths. The Plymbury Witch is a story deeply influenced by what I learned and experienced over the years.

A Magical Beach Town

When I walked along Duxbury Beach and through the center of town for the very first time over twenty-five years ago, I couldn’t help but feel there was so much more to this beach community under its summer façade. And if I’m honest, an enchantment grabbed hold of me from that moment, and it never let me go. Here, the seeds of Plymbury began to take root because I wanted to capture that magic in my story.

The name Plymbury came from combining two Massachusetts beach towns—Plymouth and Duxbury—but it was Duxbury that shaped most of the story. From the outside, this town looked like many other wealthy, private coastal New England communities. Still, beneath the surface, the town’s character is shaped by its conservative values and deeply rooted traditions.

The Intersection of Faith and Friendship

I hadn’t lived in Duxbury long when I decided to bring my ministry education and experience as a Wiccan High Priestess to the town. So, I founded the First Church of Wicca, a place for like-minded Wiccans and Pagans to gather for worship and community.

You can imagine how unexpected this might have seemed in a place where most people held more traditional, conservative beliefs. One of the most significant and unexpected friendships I made was with a pastor of a local Christian church. Despite our different spiritual paths, we deeply respected one another. Our frequent conversations about faith, community, and humanity held kindness and understanding, and our eyes opened to new perspectives.

It’s Not About Me

While The Plymbury Witch is not about my personal journey or this friendship, many lessons I learned inspired parts of the story. The novel explores the intersection between belief systems and what it means to be marginalized. However, there are challenges in finding oneself when questioning what you’ve always been told is true. I purposely wanted the novel to explore these deep and meaningful subjects with an air of whimsy and lightheartedness, not only because that’s my writing style but because it makes the story easy to read, entertaining, and fun.

So, Plymbury began to take shape as I explored a fictional world where a witch can fall in love with a Christian minister, and characters can grapple with issues that are familiar to us all: belonging, identity, and finding personal truths—even when they differ from the masses.

Sea Glass Magic

One of the featured parts of The Plymbury Witch is sea glass magic. I’ve always been fascinated by sea glass—the way it’s worn smooth by tides and time and how each piece holds a story of its own. So, it only felt natural to weave this magical element into the story. Sea glass is a metaphor for transformation, and my main character Ravenna says, “The ocean takes discarded broken shards of glass and turns them into something new, but the glass holds all the information that transformed it. So when you wear it, you absorb their mysteries, and your own brokenness changes and heals, too.”

Magical Realism

What I love most about writing magical realism, and what I hope to bring to The Plymbury Witch, is the way magic is a part of everyday life. In Plymbury, magic is accepted without question by the characters who live there. They may not always see it or understand it, but it’s there, influencing their world. In this same way, I hope you will find pieces of your own magic woven within the story.