Castle Gate

by Lisa Bonnice

Castle Gate is the true and tragic saga of a Scottish family whose dreams of finding their fortunes in the bountiful coal mines of Castle Gate, Utah, during the Prohibition era explode in one of the most devastating mine disasters in American history. Is their presence there just bad luck, or is it due to a generational curse dating back to their ancestors’ involvement in a grisly witchcraft trial in the 1600s?

Based on extensive genealogical research, Castle Gate tells the story of one family destroyed by a documented curse which has been wreaking havoc in countless lives, all over the world, for centuries.

Lisa Bonnice is the author of Fear of Our Father , a best-selling true-crime novel which has been featured in numerous television and radio programs in the US and the UK. She is also the author of a series of metaphysical comedy novels which includes The Poppet Master and The Fairy Falls . A former associate producer for MSNBC.com, Lisa has been a popular program host with The Shift Network for many years, hosting their annual Ancestral Healing Summit and Beyond the Veil Summit.

The Maxwell Curse Trilogy, of which Castle Gate is Book 1, is based on Lisa's family and she has set herself the task of laying that curse to rest. Learn more about Lisa at lisabonnice.com

351 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2023

About the author

Lisa Bonnice is the author (and co-author) of several books, the newest being Castle Gate - Book 1 in The Maxwell Curse Trilogy. It’s the true and tragic saga of the Garroch and Littlejohn families, related by marriage. The Littlejohn family is descended from a lineage that was cursed during a witch trial in 1600s Scotland. The Garrochs are unfortunate enough to have married into this nightmare.

Castle Gate tells the tale, based on extensive genealogical research, of the families who emigrate to the United States from Scotland during the WWI and Prohibition eras, only to have the curse follow them there. The Littlejohns and Garrochs, and over a hundred others, are devastated by one of the biggest mine explosions in American history — the Castle Gate Mine Disaster of 1924 — where families are torn apart and almost two hundred men die by fire in a mine that the Littlejohns run.

Lisa's novel The Poppet Master, a metaphysical comedy, is a reworking of her first novel Be Careful What You Witch For! This new re-titled version includes a new ending, plus a foreword written by Marc Allen, publisher at New World Library. The Poppet Master is a comedic look at what happens when a perfectly ordinary woman wakes up one day with psychic abilities and no instruction manual.

She also co-authored with Stacey M. Kananen the true crime novel Fear of Our Father—The True Story of Abuse, Murder, and Family Ties. Stacey is the survivor of years of heinous abuse at the hands of her father. When Stacey's older brother confessed to murdering both parents, he took her down with him and she was arrested and tried for murder. Fear of Our Father tells the harrowing story of how she survived.

Shape Shifting—reclaiming YOUR perfect body, Lisa's first book, is a body/mind/spirit look at weight balancing (an updated version is available on Kindle, entitled: Shape Shifting—the Body/Mind/Spirit Weight Solution). Lisa has been involved in body/mind/spirit healing for decades. She lost 50 pounds while writing her first book about the metaphysics of weight loss. Shape Shifting caught the attention of Neale Donald Walsch, who wrote the foreword.

Her strange and interesting life includes seven years as a standup comedienne, working with the likes of Tim Allen, Steve Harvey and Jeff Foxworthy. Lisa's background includes editing Future Medicine Publishers' Alternative Medicine—The Definitive Guide, along with over five years as an award-winning affiliate writer and producer for MSNBC.com.

Lisa currently works with The Shift Network as a program and summit host, where she interviews luminaries and experts in the fields of spirituality, energy medicine and psychic phenomenon. She hosts the Ancestral Healing Summit, interviewing experts in epigenetics and ancestral healing, and the Beyond the Veil Summit, which features experts in Near Death Experiences (NDE) and Mediumship.

Reviews

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice story. Mildly dry and painful to read at times

[Tracy Gilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.