{"id":1377,"date":"2026-03-20T08:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/03\/20\/2026-03-20-student-publishes-mystery-novel\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:08:56","slug":"2026-03-20-student-publishes-mystery-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/03\/20\/2026-03-20-student-publishes-mystery-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Student publishes mystery\u00a0novel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Julia Kramer<\/a> · Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The English Department hosted a book signing and reading of junior Anastasia Brown\u2019s recently published novel \u201cThe House on Breaker\u2019s Ridge.\u201d The event also featured a Q & A with Brown. \u2014 JENNA MILLER<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grove City College junior Anastasia Brown celebrated the publication of her first novel, \u201cThe House on Breaker\u2019s Ridge,\u201d at its public reading, which students and faculty attended March 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a project she began in eighth grade, the novel was originally written for her family\u2019s enjoyment, with its protagonists, the Trelawney children, inspired by her own siblings. However, after winning a young authors contest, Brown was offered a publishing deal by Booklogix, a non-traditional publishing and print services company supporting independent authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a very whirlwind surprise, you know, out of the ordinary,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the editing and publishing process took much longer than Brown anticipated, with the novel remaining largely untouched until her first year of college. While not ideal, Brown found that the delay allowed her to relive the unique familial closeness of her youth, while providing her with fresh eyes to see the weaknesses of a plot she had not looked at since ninth grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, with the publishing company\u2019s approval, Brown rewrote much of the book and majorly altered the climax. Like most authors, however, Brown struggled to know when to stop editing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re finite human beings, we are never going to make something perfect that lives up to all our hopes and aspirations, and so just being comfortable with our own limitations, I think, was an important thing for me to realize,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAt some point, it is just right to put it out in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe House on Breaker\u2019s Ridge\u201d is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Strand Books and others. Written for kids ages 8 to 13, the novel follows the Trelawneys\u2019 children who come to live in an \u201cold ancestral mansion\u201d full of secrets. Although categorized as a mystery novel, Brown wanted more than hidden passages to catch the readers\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main theme of the book is about a family.\u201d Brown said, \u201cIt was the driving force that got me putting a story on a page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fun thing about a family is everybody is so different. And the thing that keeps us together is that we\u2019re a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior English major Molly Miller appreciated this theme at the book reading event, saying, \u201cIt was so sweet and beautiful to hear how the characters in the book were based on her own family and friends. \u2026 I am eager to read the rest of the book as soon as my copy arrives in the mail room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by the Hearth, the reading of Anastasia\u2019s novel had four narrators who took the audience through the first two chapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was one of the best-attended Hearth events so far. \u2026 And (it was) a lovely example of how students encourage students in life-giving activities,\u201d Dr. Joshua Mayo, chair of the Department of English, said. \u201cAs a department, we are very proud of Anastasia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event closed with a question-and-answer session where audience members asked Brown about her inspirations and writing technique, as well as for encouragement for those wondering how to approach novel writing and publication themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, Anastasia is enjoying the challenge of writing short stories, and while no new novels are in the works, the possibility is certainly not written off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we are in the best moment in time. \u2026 There\u2019s plenty of resources, plenty of different routes to get things out to the world,\u201d Brown said before cautioning audience members to keep their writing enjoyable. Speaking about her own experience, she shared that \u201cIt was a blessing, but it just began with doing the project for the joy of it, that was probably what got me continuing to do what I love today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grove City College junior Anastasia Brown celebrated the publication of her first novel, \u201cThe House on Breaker\u2019s Ridge,\u201d at its public reading, which students and faculty attended March 18. As a project<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[14,80,51],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","tag-front-page","tag-julia-kramer","tag-issue-2026-03-20"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",1159,576,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",150,75,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",300,149,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",768,382,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",1024,509,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",1159,576,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-20-05-student-publishes-mystery-novel-1.jpg",1159,576,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Grove City College junior Anastasia Brown celebrated the publication of her first novel, \u201cThe House on Breaker\u2019s Ridge,\u201d at its public reading, which students and faculty attended March 18. As a project","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1702,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions\/1702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}