Books We Love Insider Blog: The Garden of the Gulf by Eden Monroe

https://www.bookswelove.com/shop/p/playtime?rq=paranormal

Imagine finding a creepy old toy that had been hidden in a wall for more than a hundred years.

That little toy dog’s name is Wheelie, pictured here. He was found while carpenters were carrying out renovations to restore Yeo House to its current destination as a historic property. So when I was asked to write a novel for The Paranormal Canadiana Collection, I decided Wheelie would be the perfect fit. I called it Playtime, and it’s set in the beautiful Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (PEI).

Before I go any further I’ll share a brief snapshot of Prince Edward Island, a small Maritime island known as the Garden of the Gulf — surrounded as it is by the sparkling waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. PEI, as it’s most commonly known, is just under thirteen kilometres away from eastern New Brunswick, via the Northumberland Strait, within the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

PEI is a charming little Island with its red soil and rolling green farmlands and parks, and there are any number of highlights that will make a visit there unforgettable. From historic Charlottetown, the capital of the smallest province in Canada, to the much-celebrated Green Gables of Anne Shirley storybook fame, there are countless must-sees. According to https://www.journeysandjaunts.com/things-to-do-in-prince-edward-island/, some of the Island’s attractions may fall a bit under the radar, but absolutely shouldn’t be missed. Such as Island Hill Farm in Hampshire with the opportunity to “cuddle baby animals”, or popular Cavendish Beach at sunset. How about indulging your sweet tooth with a cone or two of COWS ice cream, or enjoying the unique experience of a Ceilidh:

“A cèilidh is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering. It usually involves fiddling, step dancing, singing, Celtic music and even story telling. It is an experience that will give you a glimpse of the culture and it’s really good fun at the same time.”

PEI was once only accessible by boat, but in 1997 the Island and the mainland of New Brunswick became attached by a pretty remarkable bridge.

Says https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/confederation-bridge: “The Confederation Bridge is the longest bridge in the world crossing ice-covered water. The toll bridge spans a 12.9 km stretch of the Northumberland Strait connecting Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island, to Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick.

“With the contract in place engineers now had to design a 13 km long structure that would have to withstand the harsh winters, ice flows and high winds of the Northumberland Strait. In addition, the contract with Ottawa stipulated the bridge would have to last 100 years — about two times longer than the average lifespan for bridges.”

During the winter this bridge sits in solid ice.

It can be said there’s something for everyone on PEI, including well-documented paranormal activity. I had several options to choose from for Playtime, but ultimately decided on Yeo House in Port Hill (Tyne Valley). It’s a bit of a drive along the Island’s less-travelled western end, but well worth the trip.

Restored to its former glory, the Yeo mansion was originally built in 1865 by wealthy shipping magnate, James Yeo Jr. Yeo House contains a wealth of beautiful and unusual artifacts. Wheelie is one of those recovered treasures, and there’s also a most off-putting heirloom known as a cooling casket. Made entirely of wicker, as the name suggests its purpose was to allow a dead body to cool off before being sent to the undertaker. The idea was to ensure that the dearly departed were actually … fully departed before they were buried. As if that weren’t macabre enough, it also served a more practical function, especially during warm weather, and that was to prevent flies from … well, nuff said.

Yeo House was the perfect backdrop for Playtime, and I share once again the back cover blurb to get you into the story:

“Darkness is often the playground of the supernatural … the eerily unexplained.

Yeo House is a haunted country home in Eastern Canada’s beautiful province of Prince Edward Island. The stately seaside mansion of a shipbuilding magnate and his family in the 1800’s, it was given new life in the twenty-first century. During renovations something unusual was found hidden in the walls — a little toy dog on wheels. Now freed from his wall prison, it seems he’s still being played with by the ghost of the child who once owned him.

When little Della Sayer and her parents visit the historic Yeo mansion to see the famous Wheelie, the little girl makes a strange and powerful connection with the antique toy. It is an unsettling paranormal knowing, a kindred ethereal awareness….

Life for the Sayers will never be the same again.”

In Playtime, Della’s mother, Jill Sayer, is a bona fide skeptic, determined to find a logical explanation for the unnatural phenomena on the Island. A playwright, she has decided to spoof these supposed hauntings until she is gradually overtaken by strange happenings and can no longer look the other way:

“Descending the stairs, still absorbing the atmosphere, she hoped to find one of the guides to ask about the toy dog. And then she heard it, an otherworldly shriek! Upstairs from where she’d just come. It sounded as though it was in one of the bedrooms. She felt the hair rise on her arms and the back of her neck. It was probably the wind blowing in the cupola, but she felt a strange presence. It was something that if she tried to describe it, she wouldn’t be able to. It was a feeling, a … presence…”

Most of the weird stuff, experienced by staff and visitors alike, happens on the second floor of the mansion. I know, I had my own creepy experience there which I shared in an earlier blog:

https://bwlauthors.blogspot.com/2025/08/playtime-paranormal-canadiana.html