What is Madeline Manor?
Somewhere along the way, Madeline Manor stopped merely being a setting and became central to the family in the Thunder on the Mountain series. Appearing across generations and multiple love stories in my books set in the Colorado high country, Madeline Manor became a character in its own right.
My day job of being a real estate agent has often been spent living and working in downtown Colorado Springs. At one point, the house next door to mine was an historic Bed and Breakfast. When the Innkeeper left town, I was often asked to take over the running of the operations while she was gone.
Originally built by John Lennox and his wife, Martha, in 1891, over the years it became known as The Lennox House. I loved that house. John and his brother, William, were local businessmen. While John and his family attended church on weekends, William went to Cripple Creek mining for gold. When he struck it rich, John became known as the “poor brother.” John’s beautiful home paled in comparison to his brother’s mansion on Nevada Avenue, now known as The Glass House on the campus of Colorado College.
Having spent untold hours working and helping with The Lennox House Bed and Breakfast, it became a place near and dear to my heart.
How Madeline Manor Found Its Way to Nederland
When I was in college in Boulder, Colorado, I discovered Barker Reservoir in Nederland. Rain or shine, it became my favorite haunt. I went there as often as possible. Sitting by the water one day in a heavy snow storm, a crack of thunder rattled my car windows. It was my first experience with thundersnow.
Being a Florida girl, I had no idea what it was. When I found out, I became enamored with the idea. When I wrote my first book, Thunder Snow, I wanted the setting to be Nederland, and I made the heroine’s profession Realtor because it was something I knew well.
In deciding on the subject of my second book (Thunder Struck), there had to be a mansion. So I transported The Lennox House to Nederland and placed it on the side of a hill overlooking the Reservoir. The ancestor who died and left the mansion to our heroine (Jordan) was Madeline, so this historic home became Madeline Manor.
How to Enjoy Madeline Manor
If you would like to escape with me for a few hours to a charming mountain town in a gorgeous, restored Victorian mansion, you can join me in several of my books where Madeline Manor features as a character in its own right.
Thunder Struck is a contemporary novel that tells the story of Jordan and Brandan renovating her inheritance from her Aunt Madeline. During the renovation process, Jordan finds journals written by her ancestors who originally built the home. I was so enthralled with the original owners that I went back and wrote their stories.
Jordan’s Gift is the story of the original owners, and Willow’s Secret is their daughter’s journey to find love. Both of these books have Madeline Manor as a major player.
In the third book in the Thunder on the Mountain trilogy (Thunder Storm), Jeni’s grandmother stays in the cottage on the property while Jordan and Brandan and Miles (the man Jeni is in love with) oversee her grandmother’s care, as Jeni racks up frequent flyer miles between New York and Nederland.
Stealing Runner’s Heart is the not-always-straight path to find love between the children from Thunder Snow and Thunder Storm, now all grown up. Madeline Manor plays a role in their story as well.
So come along for a romantic escape, and fall in love with all the characters on the Nederland mountainside.