Susan Newhof lives with her husband and high school pal, Paul
Collins, in a big old house in Montague, Michigan, which was the inspiration
for her book, Spirits and Wine. She
was born and raised in Grand Rapids and remembers writing poems and stories as
soon as she could read. After 21 years sampling various college majors, she
graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in English and
moved to Washington, DC to work as a national press officer for the American
Red Cross.

Love and the lakes drew her back to Michigan in the
mid1990s, where she works as a communication consultant and writer and enjoys
the pleasures of life in a small town. She loves tapping the maple trees
surrounding her home and making maple syrup, gardening, Moroccan food and
sharing meals with friends. She also loves chicken chores and her eight beautiful
hens about whom she is writing a book.

Susan’s concern for animal welfare issues moved her to
become a vegetarian several years ago. She and Paul volunteer to help rescue and
find homes for cats and dogs and have managed to keep their beloved menagerie
to just two of each.

Susan is compiling the fifth edition of her guidebook, Michigan’s Town and Country Inns,
published by the University of Michigan Press. Spirits and Wine is her first novel. 

Spirits and Wine (Hardcover)

By Susan Jayne Newhof

$24.00

ISBN-13: 9780472118007
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: University of Michigan Press/Regional, 9/2011

It’s a mystery and a ghost story, all wrapped up in one. A young couple buys an old house in a small lake town in western Michigan and finds it to be haunted by the dramatic secrets of its past inhabitants. As the couple settles in, disturbing events prompt them to investigate who those residents were, what happened to them, and why their spirits remain active. Could the Spanish influenza epidemic in the region, which resulted in the deaths of an unprecedented number of young, healthy adults in Michigan and elsewhere in 1918–19, and the resulting slew of orphans, have something to do with the spirits now haunting their house? They are determined to discover the truth about their house, even if it jeopardizes their own safety. “A graceful, elegantly told ghost story that is at times frightening, at times heartwarming, often quite funny, and always an engrossing and fascinating read.” —Rodney Vaccaro, Emmy award–winning Hollywood screenwriter and producer

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