Of course, I’ve fictionalized all of the characters in my book, as well as some community elements—for instance, there is no Lily Dale High School—and I’ve taken some creative liberties with other details. But the town itself is pretty much as I have described it: a quaint, isolated, gated Victorian community of ramshackle nineteenth-century homes clustered along the grassy shore of a picturesque country lake. Its residents are primarily spiritualists, some of whom are registered mediums and/or healers who advertise their calling on painted shingles hung above their doors. I grew up a stone’s throw away in Dunkirk, the small city on Lake Erie visisted by Calla and Blue in this book. As teenagers, my friends and I frequently made the ten-minute drive during the summer “season” to Lily Dale, eager to consult with the psychic mediums who lived within its old-world iron gates. Unlike many visitors, we weren’t necessarily trying to get in touch with the dearly departed. No, back then, we were mainly concerned about our futures—and our love lives.
