A Burnaby author is getting a little musical help from a high-profile guest to launch her new novel.
Suzanne de Montigny will be joined by Cape Breton fiddler Mairi Rankin as she launches her new book, A Town Bewitched, in a special event at the Cottage Bistro in Vancouver.
The launch is set for Saturday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m.
De Montigny, an avid fan of the renowned Rankin Family, first crossed paths with Mairi Rankin at a fiddling camp on the Sunshine Coast, when de Montigny’s sons were seven and nine.
“At the time, we thought we’d learn some good tunes and enjoy the Sunshine Coast, but it became much more than that,” she recalls in a press release.
She and her son Philippe landed Rankin as their teacher – and, as she recalls it, the two went “totally fiddle crazy.”
“When we got home, we practised like fiends every night, stomping our feet as we played, eventually performing for neighbours,” she says.
Her elder son even took up busking on Granville Island and earned himself $2,000 that summer – and they both signed up as private students with Rankin not long afterwards.
It was that Christmas that de Montigny came up with her idea for her next book.
“I thought to myself: supposed what happened to us happened to an entire town, except … there was something really wrong with the fiddler.”
The idea caught her imagination, and she started writing on New Year’s Day.
A Town Bewitched tells the story of a child prodigy in classical violin who’s growing up in Hope, B.C. A mysterious fiddler shows up in town, bewitching everyone but Kira with her Celtic music.
“Then when someone starts vandalizing the town leaving dead birds as a calling card, only Kira suspects who the real perpetrator is. But will the others believe her?” a book synopsis says.
It only makes sense that she would hire Rankin to perform at the book launch, de Montigny says – along with guitarist Jennie Ritter.
“What better way to celebrate the launch of a book about Celtic fiddling than with an expert in the field?” de Montigny says.
Cottage Bistro is at 4470 Main St. Free tickets are available by reservation through www.eventbrite.ca – search for A Town Bewitched, or find a link through www.suzannedemontigny.com.
