Intersection Column | Looking Behind the Doors

by Jaime Jo Wright

When I sat down to write The Bookshop of 99 Doors, I had all sorts of ideas of where I wanted the story to go. I started out with a dead Civil War captain, a house based on a legendary ruin in Malaysia (of all places) with 99 doors and a rumored 100th that led to a spiritual portal, and a ghost-hunting team of paranormal experts. Let’s face it. Those pieces don’t fit together easily, and in the world of Christian fiction, one may question how I even intended to write it without crossing lines into the realm of spiritual darkness.

I relocated the legendary ruins to the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and transformed them into an old manor house. From there, I sat back and asked myself, why would anyone have a house with 99 doors, and what would happen if someone thought that spirits of dead Civil War soldiers used a portal in the form of the 100th door? What were the parallels that I could draw to align with our own journeys as people traversing the hurts and differences that have divided us for so long?

That’s why I made my primary character, Triss Bellamy, a heroine on a quest to find spiritual truth in a world pervaded by curiosity about the paranormal, a hunt for who God is, and a history of family battles that often end in splits. Triss has her own family split to contend with, and yes, her brother being a professional paranormal investigator has made her search for truth a challenge. Enter the story in the past where we meet Minnie Tipton, who was born at the end of the Civil War, is twenty-plus years out, and living through the after-effects of its brutality with a father suffering from delusions caused by the war. She has her own search for truth, her own journey of reconciliation, and the secrets behind hidden doors wait to jump out at her like a bad dream.

When I write stories like this, I try to create imagery that we can then turn on ourselves and question our own journeys. We all have “doors” within us that hold memories, secrets, treasures, and nightmares. Some we open without thought, some we tug open with fanfare and joy, and perhaps there’s one door that remains hidden and out of sight. A door that we’re afraid to open. Dread what’s behind it. Even choose to forget it even exists.

But as Triss and Minnie discover in The Bookshop of 99 Doors, sometimes that one door must be found, opened, and the truth inside of it faced. They also discover (I promise no spoilers) that truth is often a journey in itself. We don’t meet our Creator and immediately understand all of His truths. It’s a quest, and it’s a careful search to extract truth from all the shadows and lies and trickeries that surround us. And yet, in the center of that hidden door, we find healing too, when we enter the doorway holding hands with our Creator. Because, as Scripture states so bluntly, “the truth will set you free.” So we seek it. Behind that hidden door.

May you find the courage to unlock your doors, explore truth, seek healing and reconciliation, and may you also have the patience to accept that it is a journey. A lifelong journey. One that will be rich with the light that God shines through the shadows.

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About the Author

Jaime Jo Wright is a Publishers Weekly bestselling author of over fifteen novels and three novellas, including Christy Award-winner and ECPA bestseller  The Vanishing at Castle Moreau, Christy Award and Daphne du Maurier Award-winner The House on Foster Hill, Christy Award-winner Night Falls on Predicament Avenue, and Carol Award-winner The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond. She lives in Wisconsin with her family and fabulous felines. Learn more at JaimeWrightBooks.com.

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About the Book

In 1888, Minnie Tipton finds herself beset by the dark superstitions that envelop the Pennsylvania mansion her father bought. In the present day, Triss Bellamy eagerly steps into the role of bookshop manager in the mansion-turned-museum boasting ninety-nine doors. But Triss's dream job turns into a nightmare when havoc breaks loose with the arrival of her brother's team of self-proclaimed paranormal investigators, determined to find a rumored hidden door.