Castle Gate

by Lisa Bonnice

Castle Gate is a sweeping historical saga of a Scottish family who leaves home in search of a new life in America. Their hopes carry them across an ocean and westward to Castle Gate, where, in 1924, one devastating day changes the family forever.


Set against the turbulence of the Prohibition era and inspired by extensive genealogical research, Castle Gate follows the loves, loyalties, dreams, and losses of an immigrant family caught up in one of the most devastating mine disasters in American history. And beneath their story lies an unsettling question: are the tragedies that follow them simply chance, or does something buried in their seventeenth-century Scottish past still have a hold on the family?


Lisa Bonnice is the author of Fear of Our Father , a bestselling true-crime book adapted into a Lifetime movie, as well as the metaphysical comedy novels A Faery on My Shoulder, The Faery Falls and The Shapeshifter's Cauldron . A former associate producer for MSNBC online, she has been a program host with The Shift Network for many years.

351 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2023

About the author

Lisa Bonnice is an award-winning author, podcaster, and longtime program host with The Shift Network, where she interviews leading voices in spirituality, energy medicine, and psychic phenomena.

She is the author of Castle Gate, a historical novel based on extensive genealogical research into the 1924 Castle Gate Mine Disaster, one of the deadliest mining tragedies in American history.

She also writes The Accidental Psychic Series of metaphysical comedies about Lola Garnett, an ordinary woman navigating the unexpected awakening of psychic abilities.

Lisa co-authored, with Stacy M. Kananen, Fear of Our Father: The True Story of Abuse, Murder, and Family Ties, which was adapted into a television movie (Monster in the Family).

Her first book, Shape Shifting: The Body/Mind/Spirit Weight Solution, explores the metaphysics of weight balancing and includes a foreword by Neale Donald Walsch.

Before focusing on writing, Lisa spent seven years as a stand-up comedienne, performing with well-known comedians on the national circuit. She later worked as an award-winning writer and affiliate producer for MSNBC.

Reviews

[Laurie]

Family, whether the relationship is weak or strong, we all long for connection. Some accomplish it through genetic ties such as 23 And Me testing. Others choose to go the genealogical route, finding connections, alive and long gone, through research. These processes inform the longing to know ‘who’ we are. It roots us historically to place and, if lucky, to new ties with family members. The intriguing question is ‘why’ we are who we are. It is just this that Bonnice gets to in her first in a Trilogy of books – Castle Gate. From the moment we meet Will and Helen, we are invited in to learn who they are, and who their children are. From their roots in Scotland to their new lives in Utah, we witness events that shape their lives. From illness to a tragic coal mining disaster, Bonnice employs a combination of genealogical research, historical research, and connections peppered with fiction to tell a family story. Bonnie’s research revealed an ancient curse cast long ago on the family that persists through the generations in one form or another yet following a central theme of suffering. This is not only the story of her family, which is in and of itself a riveting read. It is a narrative that will draw the reader in and beg the question of the reader – ‘why’ am I ‘who’ I am? Truly a fascinating and captivating read! Can’t wait until Book 2 – the revelation of the curse.

[Brian Redfield]

Nice story. Mildly dry and painful to read at times

[Tracy Gilson]

This story is about immigrants who came from coal mines in Scotland to work in coal mines in America. Bonnice places you into the home life of this coal mining family in the early 20th century. I felt like I was sitting at the table with them for a whiskey, boiling water for baths and grieving the loss of a loved one. I enjoyed this book, and I am impatiently waiting for the next one.