FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Website Marks Fourth Anniversary of Oregon-Based Mystery
Portland author calls on memories of her rural childhood home and landscape to craft poignant story of love, loss, and supernatural; prequel in the works
PORTLAND OR, October 15, 2023 – Gwen Barnard’s father died leaving an abandoned private airport and a property with little sale value. Standing with her daughter viewing a strip of land her father had never mowed, Gwen wondered why it had never been mowed and never used for anything but the parking of derelict vehicles and decaying airplane parts. As soon as the words left her mouth, a stray thought came: “Must be where the bodies are buried.” This led to the writing of a compelling story with captivating color, aptly named Last Harvest.
“I am convinced that a place or home that has had serious loss suffers from the imprinting of energy on that location,” says Barnard. “Dad did have enough failed marriages and businesses and lost friends to fill a series of stories.”
While the events and characters in Last Harvest are drawn from Barnard’s imagination, the location and properties are real, the airport became the orchard. Unlike the fictional orchard, no buried bodies have ever been found on the airport property and none are believed to have ever been buried there.
In the four years since its publication, Last Harvest has enjoyed robust sales.
New Website Marks Fourth Anniversary of Oregon-Based Mystery
Portland author calls on memories of her rural childhood home and landscape to craft poignant story of love, loss, and supernatural; prequel in the works
PORTLAND OR, October 15, 2023 – Gwen Barnard’s father died leaving an abandoned private airport and a property with little sale value. Standing with her daughter viewing a strip of land her father had never mowed, Gwen wondered why it had never been mowed and never used for anything but the parking of derelict vehicles and decaying airplane parts. As soon as the words left her mouth, a stray thought came: “Must be where the bodies are buried.” This led to the writing of a compelling story with captivating color, aptly named Last Harvest.
“I am convinced that a place or home that has had serious loss suffers from the imprinting of energy on that location,” says Barnard. “Dad did have enough failed marriages and businesses and lost friends to fill a series of stories.”
While the events and characters in Last Harvest are drawn from Barnard’s imagination, the location and properties are real, the airport became the orchard. Unlike the fictional orchard, no buried bodies have ever been found on the airport property and none are believed to have ever been buried there.
In the four years since its publication, Last Harvest has enjoyed robust sales.
Website link: Author G. M. Barnard (authorgmbarnard.com)
Last Harvest, by G.M. Barnard
Melody Corbbet is called home by her sister, Samantha, after the death of her father, Earl. Upon arriving back in the small Oregon town of Sheridan where she grew up, she finds the farm house and orchard of her childhood in ruins. Not only are Mel and Sammy left with a property in shambles but the place is infested with the troubled spirits of those whose lives were cut short, due to unexplained accidents and unfortunate deaths. They also must confront their own reasons for having stayed away for so many years.
In the prequel, Corbbet’s Orchard, Earl Corbett is 14 years old in 1974, living on the apple orchard with his grandparents and his sister, Cathy. The story lays out how Earl came to be the man he was, his long time friendships with the pastor, the sheriff, and the funeral director, and the secrets they would hide for decades.
“I enjoyed this book very much. The author takes you through all the musts of a mystery: The characters you grow to know and care about, the challenges of being left with a big old mess to clean up when a loved one passes, a villain you love to hate, a little romance and even a ghost or two! It was especially fun for me to read this book because it is set in the area I live in. I felt right at home! If you have ever lived in a small town you will relate to the everybody knows everybody aspect of the story. If not, you will surely get pulled into the mystery and be rooting for the two sisters who are finding their way through a hard time and in their lives.” FL - Newberg Oregon
