How It Happened in Peach Hill

The year is 1924, the heyday of the revived Spiritualist movement. Fourteen-year-old Annie and her mother are successful purveyors of psychic chicanery; they move from town to town, cashing in on the fad for clairvoyant guidance.

When they arrive in Peach Hill, Annie is once again compelled into her part of the act: she has to pretend that she’s the village idiot in order to more easily listen in on gossip that her mother can put to use as a fake seer. But something happens in Peach Hill. Annie’s tired of missing school, drooling, and keeping her eyes crossed. This is not the way to attract the kind of male attention she wants. She decides to drop the guise, but no sooner than she does, her mother comes up with a new scam. Now she’s a faith healer and Annie’s troubles have just begun.

This is Marthe Jocelyn at the height of her powers as a novelist. How it Happened in Peach Hill is by turns funny, suspenseful, and heartbreaking as it explores the world of those who peddle hope and comfort for profit.

Publishers Weekly

Jocelyn (Mable Riley) delivers a lively historical yarn set in New York State during Prohibition and the waning years of the spiritualist movement. Young Annie serves as the clever and feisty assistant to her mother, a clairvoyant and spiritual adviser, as they move from town to town to escape exposure and the law. When they arrive in Peach Hill, N.Y., however, the ruse begins to unravel. Annie, now 15, must pretend to be "dimwitted" and to eavesdrop on the townsfolk for the sake of the act. The tension becomes palpable when Annie develops other plans for herself that include a boy named Sammy Sloane, honesty and a normal life (her clever plot to escape idiocy is inspired). Yet the heroine finds it difficult to extricate herself from her mother's tantalizing sphere of influence. Annie makes a convincing heroine, and a set of unique and sympathetic characters swirl around her, including a troubled but clear-thinking daughter of a preacher and a seemingly severe but insightful truant officer. Others, such as Peg the housekeeper and Sammy, serve the story line but seem too naïve to be fully credible. Nonetheless, the gripping intrigue and pacing of the story will engage young readers as they root for Annie to break free and become her own person. Ages 9-12. (Mar.)

Marthe Jocelyn is an award-winning author and illustrator who worked for many years as a toy designer before turning her hand to writing. Her picture book, Hannah’s Collections, was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award for Illustration. Her novel, Mable Riley, won the first TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. She has created five picture books, written six novels, one work of nonfiction for older readers, and edited one collection of short stories.