Batavia native Suzanne Zewan has been creating her first novel for a long time.
Sixteen years to be exact.
On Thursday November 9, 2017 from 7-8pm, Zewan will be at the Holland Land Office in Batavia for a book signing and discussion about the Linden murders which is the basis of her first historical fiction book “Shadow By the Bridge”.
An exhibit is also on display at the Holland Land Office about the Linden murders that contains actual artifacts from the crime scenes.
The murders occurred in the small hamlet of Linden, near Bethany, in 1917, 1922, 1924 and 1934. Five people were murdered and the killer was never found.
Police to this day have no motive and no clues in the case.
Zewan’s story is told through the eyes of an 11 year old boy from Linden who is coming of age from 1917-1924. The story ends farther in the future and the murders are still a part of his life years later as a grandfather.
“My goal was, what did it really feel like to live through it and how did it impact the life of the main character,” says Zewan.
As a kid, she thought the story of Lizzie Borden, tried and acquitted for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Massachusetts in 1892, was really interesting.
“I probably saw every Lizzie Borden TV movie that was on,” says Zewan.
“I was just intrigued with that kind of story and for some reason historical murders were interesting to me. So when I heard about the Linden murders and how fascinating the whole story was and that it has never been solved, I started doing my research and I read Bill Brown’s book, ‘The Linden Murders Unsolved’.”
“I knew right away it was going to be my novel to write.”
Researching entire files on each of the five murders along with viewing pictures, articles and court documents has helped with the historical facts in the story which is based on actual events and details of the case.
Writing the newly released novel has opened many doors over the years.
Zewan was in a writers group when she first started writing “Shadow by the Bridge” and wrote about 100 pages that was not so good. The story was told in the third person point of view and was very boring.
She had to think of a new way to tell the story.
“I came up with a first person point of view and a young boy’s point of view who was from Linden and who grew up there.”
But after writing 7 chapters, Zewan says she became frustrated because she says she really didn’t have any guidance at this point.
She stopped writing.
She was going to school to get a Masters in Creative Writing at SUNY Brockport while working two jobs, teaching three classes per semester as an Adjunct Professor at Buffalo State while also working as a Work Experience Coordinator at BOCES.
Then while working in Dansville for BOCES one day, Zewan had to set up a job shadow for an editor, “He was telling me he wrote a book too.” He said, “Listen, writers write, pick that book up!”
That’s when Zewan asked if he could start reading it if she started writing again.
He said yes.
Zewan finished writing the book in 2015 and she graduated from Brockport with her Masters in Creative Writing in 2016. She then started the editing process. The book went through three edits total.
“I very much feel like I have lived through it, some of the chapters were very intense and so emotional, because it really was an emotional time for these people.”
“When you read other types of documentation in a non fiction book you are getting the facts, but you are not getting the emotion. My story is about what did it feel like, the terror and the grief.”
Zewan says there were only 35 homes in the hamlet and they were all so close as a community, “You think you know everyone, but maybe you don’t.”
“You look back at that time and everything was simple and everything had a set of rules in society, but there is a whole dark side to that, where people are doing these gruesome killings, that is very intriguing to me.”
Zewan is already working on her second book, it is a paranormal thriller set in Batavia and she is already 160 pages into it. Told from the perspective of a young girl, the whole idea is everything happens for a reason.
To purchase Zewan’s newly released book, “Shadow by the Bridge” click on this link https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36430988-shadow-by-the-bridge