Many of us enjoy Ghost Stories that frighten us and send us screaming into the night. The Curse of Mayweather House might be a Ghost Story, but love blooms brightly in the hearts of the undead — a love that has lasted over a century and will last through eternity. Leora Grace and Captain William Thomas Mayweather have searched the underworld of the dead for several lifetimes, hoping that they would rediscover love's burning flame, that death’s sting could not extinguish.
Released April 14, 2007
The Curse of Mayweather House
The Curse of Mayweather House
by
Nancy Lee Shrader
ISBN: 1-89493654X
Released April 14,2007!
Synopsis
The Curse of Mayweather House begins with an elderly English Lady sitting alone in a church yard cemetery. The is Lady Nancy Lee Abernathy’s first visit to the graves of her husband son in almost a year since her husband’s death She sits on a stone bench gazing at two grave stones wishing that she could join her husband and the child they lost over sixty years ago. Suddenly her mind begins recalling events from her youth, about the haunted house known as Mayweather House. Then suddenly she realizes that she is not only recalling events from her own search into the facts surrounding Mayweather House. She is recalling events in the lives of Captain Mayweather and his wife Leora Grace. In her travels into the past life of the Mayweathers, she learns of the great love the Mayweathers’ shared. The same great love she shared with her beloved Zane. However, what she doesn’t realize is that the good captain and his wife have stepped through the veil of the supernatural and are leading her into their past, preparing her for some future event. At first she believes that she is losing her mind but soon comes to the conclusion that she must play an important part in freeing the ghosts from their earthbound realm within the spirit world. Later on the ghost find that this elderly English Lady is also leading them to discover the origin of the curse that has held them earthbound.
Across the ocean in the United States, three siblings find that they are the new owners of an English estate known as Mayweather House after the death of their father. However, upon learning of their inheritance, they find that haunting family secrets are clouding their wind fall into luxury. After reading letters contained in an ominous iron strongbox, they soon realize that they must do battle with the supernatural in order to claim their ancestral home, Mayweather House. Justin, Michael and Lyndsey Alistair have mixed emotions about claiming their inheritance but the excitement soon beats down their fear and they make plans to travel to Southampton England to claim their haunted house and drive out the ghosts.
Finally, an evil phantom spirit, who has stalked Lady Abernathy for her entire life makes one final attempt to snuff out her life. The Evil that lives within Mayweather House has to keep the ghosts from combining forces with the land of the living. It knows that when they finally join as one force it will be destroyed. The Evil will not allow this unification to take place without a fight.
Excerpt
Many of us enjoy Ghost Stories that frighten us and send us screaming into the night. The Curse of Mayweather House might be a Ghost Story, but love blooms brightly in the hearts of the undead — a love that has lasted over a century and will last through eternity.
Professional Reviews
The Curse of Mayweather House
THE CURSE OF MAYWEATHER HOUSE
Nancy Shrader
THE CURSE OF MAYWEATHER HOUSE is a wonderfully conceived and written ghost story that will keep you fascinated, not only with the storyline as it winds through the centuries when Lady Nancy Lee Abernathy is given the gift of remembrance, but also of frightening memories from a ghostly past of her own loves and losses. The descriptions of all the characters, scenes and thoughts of each person
in the process are described with originality and freshness, thanks to this accomplished author.
The land where Mayweather House looms four stories high, towering near the Bluff off the
Southampton waters, contains a terrible curse which hangs heavily over Mayweather House. In the
bowels of the House resides evil, wreaking havoc to all who cross its threshold. The beautiful ball
room with its domed ceiling is the heart of Mayweather House, and its black heart seems to beat on
dark, starless nights. Many locals have reported hearing this beating as it breathes its venomous curse,
causing insanity to fill the minds of many who walk too closely to the veil.
Two young lovers, Captain William Thomas Mayweather and Leora Grace Stonewick, walk blindly into the curse when William's wedding gift of Mayweather House is constructed on the land. Their life, love affair and even shorter marriage ends when their eyes are closed in death; yet it is only for the short
moment when their hearts ceased to beat. Their great love could not be extinguished even by death,
so for one hundred and thirty odd years William and Leora Grace Mayweather search the underworld
of the dead for the love that was stronger than any curse. In their search they enlist other young lovers
to join them in changing the destinies of those future victims entrapped by the beauty and lure of
Mayweather House.
Read how the destinies of Justin, Michael and Lyndsey Alistair were laid out years before their births,
while each haunting led them to Mayweather House and the end of the curse. William and Leora Grace
will lead them until it is finally broken and love blooms again for the star-crossed lovers of Mayweather
House. Nancy Lee Shrader's word pictures of the mansion, its inhabitantsand their lives are
incomparable.
Compelling! Five Stars
Joyce Ann Edmondson, Author
The Listening Tree
Falling Petals
In the Arms of the Shepherd
The Curse of Mayweather House
The Curse of Mayweather House
By: Nancy Lee Shrader
This is a very Gothic kind of story, rich with descriptions of the past and present lives involving main characters Leora Grace Stonewick Mayweather and William Mayweather, and Nancy Lee Abernathy. The Mayweather couple are cursed by a captive slave kept a prisoner in a dark room. No matter how much in love William and Leora Grace are, the forces of evil, pure evil, are determined to prevent any kind of happy-ever-after.
The story ping-pongs back and forth to the days that Leora Grace and William Mayweather lived in England to the present day where the sympathetic observer, Nancy Lee Abernathy, seems totally consumed in their lives and involved with their ghostly presence, as she is transported back in time to observe the tragedy, the joy, and the struggles Leora Grace and William have.
Had the dashing sea Captain William known of a horrible curse, he surely wouldn’t have built a house of love for his beloved there. This is a tragic tale filled with ghostly images and sinister demons wreaking sheer hell and havoc over all of it. If you love mystery and darkness and the Gothic genre, you will love Mayweather House. It was enjoyable.
The Curse of Mayweather House
Review: The Curse of Mayweather House
By Nancy Lee Shrader
Reviewed by Connie Arnold
You will discover adventures, suspense, mystery and drama all in “The Curse of Mayweather House” which is also a ghost story, as well as a love story. Nancy Lee Shrader has something for everyone in this story of Leora Grace and Captain William Mayweather, whose deep love endures following their death.
The search for a way to end the curse, save future victims from it, and for Leora Grace and Captain Mayweather to be reunited for eternity will keep you reading anxiously, not knowing what to expect from the next page turn.
Reviewed by Connie Arnold
www.freewebs.com/conniearnold
Review: The Curse of Mayweather House
The Curse of Mayweather House
by Nancy Lee Shrader
Many of us enjoy Ghost Stories that frighten us and send us screaming into the night. The Curse of Mayweather House might be a Ghost Story, but love blooms brightly in the hearts of the undead — a love that has lasted over a century and will last through eternity. Leora Grace and Captain William Thomas Mayweather have searched the underworld of the dead, hoping that they would rediscover loves burning flame, that death's sting could not extinguish.
Demons lurk in the bowels of Mayweather House, enticing its victims into its dark maze of evil. This Evil has stalked Nancy Lee Abernathy her entire life, in an attempt to stop her from freeing the Mayweathers from the curse. With the aid of William and Leora Grace, Nancy Lee is spared the death that the demon planned for her on the day of her birth and all the other times during her life. Nancy Lee,
in turn will aid the ghosts in their quest for freedom.
A lengthy, discriptive prologue full of a rather sinister history begins this tale. It provides a background for the location, and introduces the narrator, (who haunts the property.) The action in this story takes place in and around "Mayweather House,' a house built above Devil's Bluff near Southhampton, England. The prologue is slow, but intriguing... and not entirely necessary.
In this twist on the classic haunting, the ghosts of Mayweather House must eventually reach out to the living, in a desperate effort to find freedom from their curse. The ghosts of Leora Grace and Captain William Mayweather cannot find one another, yet cannot escape the house; theirs is a double curse. The living person they reach, Nancy Lee Abernathy, is an amazing character that one immediately admires; determined, terrified, self-reliant, but also with some idea of what lay "behind the veil." She can sense a 'presence' from the first. She is not the 'classic' heroine type though, as she is not the beautiful young heroine, but an elderly, sad person who recognizes the burden of tragedy she carries. She is also reverent and respectful, and engages readers' sympathies immediately. Her one interest; she is intrigued by a puzzle, and involved with the supernatural. Through her, we hear the voice of long-dead Leora, and through her, we share the pain of separation and loss.
William and Leora may seem like the main characters in this tale, but in truth, this tale captures the lives of a number of characters, and all are important. There are fast moments here, action, as well as thrilling parts. On the whole however, this is a slow, thoughtful read, full of very good descriptions, insights, and emotions. The style seems old-fashioned, where words are meant to be savored and all the deeper meanings of events are meant to be understood.
This is a book for those who like a good ghost story, and who will slow down to enjoy a certain rich, descriptive quality in a work. This reader had difficulty assigning a number to this work as I don't imagine this will have broad appeal, but am giving it 4 books for its wonderful writing quality and great depth of story. Shrader's "The Curse of Mayweather House," is wonderfully original, intriguing and evocative.
Review by Snapdragon
Review: The Curse of Mayweather House
By Nancy Lee Shrader
Reviewed by Connie Arnold
You will discover adventures, suspense, mystery and drama all in “The Curse of Mayweather House” which is also a ghost story, as well as a love story. Nancy Lee Shrader has something for everyone in this story of Leora Grace and Captain William Mayweather, whose deep love endures following their death.
The search for a way to end the curse, save future victims from it, and for Leora Grace and Captain Mayweather to be reunited for eternity will keep you reading anxiously, not knowing what to expect from the next page turn.
Reviewed by Connie Arnold
www.freewebs.com/conniearnold
Review: The Curse of Mayweather House
The Curse of Mayweather House
by Nancy Lee Shrader
Many of us enjoy Ghost Stories that frighten us and send us screaming into the night. The Curse of Mayweather House might be a Ghost Story, but love blooms brightly in the hearts of the undead — a love that has lasted over a century and will last through eternity. Leora Grace and Captain William Thomas Mayweather have searched the underworld of the dead, hoping that they would rediscover loves burning flame, that death's sting could not extinguish.
Demons lurk in the bowels of Mayweather House, enticing its victims into its dark maze of evil. This Evil has stalked Nancy Lee Abernathy her entire life, in an attempt to stop her from freeing the Mayweathers from the curse. With the aid of William and Leora Grace, Nancy Lee is spared the death that the demon planned for her on the day of her birth and all the other times during her life. Nancy Lee,
in turn will aid the ghosts in their quest for freedom.
A lengthy, discriptive prologue full of a rather sinister history begins this tale. It provides a background for the location, and introduces the narrator, (who haunts the property.) The action in this story takes place in and around "Mayweather House,' a house built above Devil's Bluff near Southhampton, England. The prologue is slow, but intriguing... and not entirely necessary.
In this twist on the classic haunting, the ghosts of Mayweather House must eventually reach out to the living, in a desperate effort to find freedom from their curse. The ghosts of Leora Grace and Captain William Mayweather cannot find one another, yet cannot escape the house; theirs is a double curse. The living person they reach, Nancy Lee Abernathy, is an amazing character that one immediately admires; determined, terrified, self-reliant, but also with some idea of what lay "behind the veil." She can sense a 'presence' from the first. She is not the 'classic' heroine type though, as she is not the beautiful young heroine, but an elderly, sad person who recognizes the burden of tragedy she carries. She is also reverent and respectful, and engages readers' sympathies immediately. Her one interest; she is intrigued by a puzzle, and involved with the supernatural. Through her, we hear the voice of long-dead Leora, and through her, we share the pain of separation and loss.
William and Leora may seem like the main characters in this tale, but in truth, this tale captures the lives of a number of characters, and all are important. There are fast moments here, action, as well as thrilling parts. On the whole however, this is a slow, thoughtful read, full of very good descriptions, insights, and emotions. The style seems old-fashioned, where words are meant to be savored and all the deeper meanings of events are meant to be understood.
This is a book for those who like a good ghost story, and who will slow down to enjoy a certain rich, descriptive quality in a work. This reader had difficulty assigning a number to this work as I don't imagine this will have broad appeal, but am giving it 4 books for its wonderful writing quality and great depth of story. Shrader's "The Curse of Mayweather House," is wonderfully original, intriguing and evocative.
This is a sentimental and epic story about a young man, injured in the Viewnam War, who returns to Dallas, Texas, in 1964, and begins rebuilding his life. Set against the rock and roll era of the early 1960’s, when casual sex and recreational drugs w
