13 Danvers Fun Facts
I love pulling back the curtain on my writing process, so for the 13th, I’m sharing 13 fun facts about Danvers (well, at least I think they’re fun… don’t yuck my yum).
My paternal great-grandmother was from Salem. Her name was Regina Gaudreault. She was born in 1900 and left when she was eighteen years old under mysterious circumstances. I think it’s fun to say she was a witch who was run out of town, but the more likely story is that she may or may not have been pregnant out of wedlock (a big no-no for Catholic girls like her back in the day). Fun fact inside of a fun fact: her birth certificate was lost during the Great Salem Fire of 1914.
I grew up going to Salem during the summers as a kid. My favorite place to visit was Ye Olde Pepper Companie across from the House of the Seven Gables, and it became my inspiration for the West India Goods store.
Hannah was named Sarah until my last draft. Only then did it strike me that two of the four main girls had the same names as Sanderson Sisters (Mary and Sarah), so I decided to change it. I tried to name almost every character in this book after a victim of the actual witch trials, which is where her name originally came from: Sarah Good. But the threat of a potential cease and desist from Disney was enough to change her to Hannah—and it gave me the perfect opportunity for a Below Deck Mediterranean reference (June, June, Hannah…).
There are little nods to several of my family members and friends throughout the book, ranging from Mary’s sister Bailey being one letter away from my sister Briley to the Mayor of Lynn (if you know, you know). I wanted to pay homage to the amazing people in my life!
I tried to drop in as many pop culture references as possible, including Free Britney, Harambe, and several Bravo winks. I was also particularly proud of myself for coming up with “Wagonier” pocket watches as a play on Cartier watches.
2026 marks Salem’s 400th anniversary! I’m telling myself it was kismet that Danvers came into the world this year.
There are Easter eggs in the book for everything I’ve written to date (a.k.a. my unpublished manuscripts). I hope they all see the light of day eventually so people can find them!
I wanted this story to have layers. Readers can either turn off their brains and just enjoy witches fighting over some guy, or they can read between the lines. It is the story of women today told through women of yesterday.
Lucky was supposed to be a one-off reference. Then I realized how important a character like her was to this story (again, layers). Thus, her performance of a lifetime was born.
Season of the Witch is the lead-off song on the playlist, but if any song really captures the tomfoolery of Danvers for me, it’s Murder on the Dancefloor. I think some Saltburn made its way into the chaos of the last third of the book—minus the, ahem, bathwater.
If I had to cast anyone in the Danvers movie, my first ask would be Aubrey Plaza as June. The second would be Steve Carell playing a very Michael Scott-inspired Mayor Saunders.
The biggest Easter egg in this book is easily the most insane, but also the most hidden in plain sight. If I ever do an audiobook, this is who I want to narrate it (assuming he finds the whole thing funny and not completely deranged).
Lastly… yes, I know it is anachronistic! Danvers was technically known as Salem Village until 1757. But I thought if we already had to suspend disbelief for a story about actual, literal witches who tried to ban male podcasts in Beverly and a grandmother who could potentially be hundreds of years old, this would be the least offensive thing (to some people, it is apparently not).