Let's talk about Cullfield for a second. 

Did you believe Cullfield was a real town buried in the trees, a car ride away from the coastline in the center of Maine? I mean, I hope you did, at least for a little while. However, the fact of the matter is, Cullfield is not a real town. 

The fictional nature of the place let me invent certain important details about it, like exactly how deeply entwined Dean's family was in the history of the town. There are a lot of things about Cullfield that are based on actual towns in Maine, though. 

For the sake of geography and figuring out how long to get to places like Warren, which actually is a town that houses Maine State Prison, Cullfield would take the place of Dexter, Maine. Like Cullfield, Dexter wasn't always called Dexter and later named itself after a local politician. 

And if you plugged in the address for Kate's motel into your GPS for Dexter you would end up at...

Moosehead Trail Motor Inn! Quaint!

Now, the Moosehead Trail Motor Inn doesn't account for a lot of the creepy, eerie stuff about Cullfield. That, in part, comes from the history of Topsham and Brunswick, which are admittedly further south than Dexter. Tunnels existed in these towns connecting houses together for transfers. A lot of Topsham's tunnel system evidently still exists. A lot of older buildings contain false walls used to shelter slaves. Natalie's house didn't have a tunnel, but it did have a variation on this method of hiding slaves. 

I do a pretty abysmal job of quickly summarizing the history of the tunnels in these towns, but it's really fascinating to read about in documents much more thorough that I'm being here. 

One of the most fascinating things about Maine as a setting... I'm Canadian! I've never been to Maine or really to the east coast. Maine simply seemed like the perfect place for a mystery. The fog banks, the history, the whole creepy vibe. 

And Cullfield was born. 

There's also something to be said about weather. April had the dreary, fogbank-y kind of weather that lent itself to giving Jane the creeps while lingering on her rooftop at night. 

There's also something to be said about this time of year and the coming of October that lends itself to chills running up your spine...

Now...

Let's Talk Cards .

The Hanged Man and the Queen of Wands. 

The very basics of Tarot cards is that there are 22 Major Arcana cards, which are your Death and Emperor and Hanged Man type cards, and there are 56 Minor Arcana cards which are made up of the suits Wands (Fire, Clubs), Cups (Water, Hearts), Swords (Air, Spades), and Pentacles (Earth, Diamonds). 

(Likewise, you might say perhaps that the four characters could be divided by these four suits. Jane to Wands, Kate to Pentacles, Rhys to Cups, and Dean to Swords.) Because it's not tricky enough for Tarot readers to remember interpretations for all these cards, they also have different meanings when dealt upside down. 

I specifically used a website called SalemTarot.com as my reference (which seems to no longer be fully functional), as difference Tarot decks can have slightly different interpretations. For example, not all decks Five of Cups does not necessarily depict a hooded figure hovering over a spilled cup with a bridge in the background. 

[The Five of Cups...Representative of loss and disappointment...The bridge remains visible. It is close. Where the river suggests you're closing yourself off, the bridge promises hope, should you be willing to remember it is there to cross.] 

[The Queen of Wands...The suit of wands is most closely associated with fire, burning passionately, full of energy and life. The cat serves as a guardian. There is someone with your interests in mind, helping you to fulfill your goals. If the Five of Cups is your disappointment, the Queen of Wands promises that hope. This is a reminder that you have support.]

[The Sun...The Sun is rebirth. The Sun is something to strive toward. It is the calm after the storm. Over your bridge, expect the sun. ]

I almost forgot the painstaking effort I took in Jane and Rhys' Tarot spreads. I'll leave some of it up for interpretation ;D but Jane is very much the Queen of Wands as much as Rhys is The Hanged Man. Natalie is present in both their spreads. How do you think she appears? 

[The two of swords... A decision must be made. Avoiding the issue by remaining blind to it only postpones the inevitable... The decision may be made for you if you don't act.]

[The Hanged Man...The card suggests your indecision may require time to reflect. It may mean necessary vulnerability to allow for new opportunities. It may relate to whatever decision the two of swords suggests.]

[The Queen of Swords... An outside influence of truth may be what you need to make your decision. The Queen evolves to embrace the truth and earn the butterflies.]

I thought it might be nice to revisit their hands after their futures actually occurred and how their cards could read into the outcomes of their choices. That, plus a little more insight into the HOURS OF TAROT RESEARCH I spent on that chapter to settle on these cards, things that represented both metaphors and character arcs and also physical things within their world. 

Any thoughts on what these spreads meant now that you've finished the book?

Lastly, I leave you with a hint of things to come, and you are open to speculate about what may happen next...

xx