A new thriller about the story of a missing 18-year-old woman was recently released by first-time novelist and lifelong Orillian Tracy Woodhouse.
Redemption follows the mysterious disappearance of the young woman, who vanished without a trace and left her husband and newborn baby behind.
When no leads surfaced from police interviews with family and friends, the case went cold for two decades — until police made a “startling discovery” that began to unravel the mystery.
Woodhouse said the book explores the power of friendship, the struggles of love, and family dynamics, all set in the parts of the world she knows best: Orillia, Severn and Ramara.
Although Redemption is her first novel, Woodhouse has been an avid reader and writer throughout her life, penning a variety of short stories and poetry over the years.
“I’ve written a lot of short stories and, with work and life, I didn’t have a lot of time to really get into writing an entire novel,” said Woodhouse, 62. “I always wanted to, but I didn’t know if I could write an entire novel.”
Her two grandchildren gave her the motivation to pursue her goal of publishing a novel.
“I wrote it to show them that no matter what they set out to do in their life, they could do it,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to do this for my grandkids. I have to show them that Nana wrote a book,’ and that was really important to me.”
In preparation for the novel, Woodhouse said she actively read, researched, and listened to podcasts to hone her craft, and she tried to write a book with the reader’s enjoyment front of mind.
“I’m a reader, so I wrote the book with the reader in mind, what I would like to see in a book, and the one thing is I avoided all the unnecessary fluff,” she said. “I took my readers right to the good stuff. They’re shorter chapters that leave you wondering and hanging at the end of each one.”
She told few people about the project, spare some family members and friends, and once they encouraged her to continue with the book after reading her prologue, she “just started writing.”
So far, her efforts have paid off.
Shortly after its release, Redemption was on several Amazon bestseller lists.
“The day of the book launch, a family member called me and said, ‘You ranked number one on Amazon’s Movers & Shakers. Then, a little later, my niece called me and said, ‘You’re No. 4 on Amazon’s new releases,’” she said.
“I was in absolute shock. I’m still shaking my head. I was just overwhelmed by the response and I just can’t thank everyone enough for picking up the book and giving me all this support.”
Redemption may be purchased on Amazon and at Manticore Books.
