COURTNEY McCLURE, for The Standard
SCUGOG: ‘Bernice’ is a book written by a Port Perry resident named Ina Castilloux, but her name on the novel is written as Ina Cass. Berniceis Ina’s first novel, and she’s already working on a sequel series for this novella.
Bernice was published in June 2021 by FriesenPress, a publishing company located in Victoria, British Columbia.
According to Ina, she started writing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It gave me time just to sit around and write,” she explained.
Although she doesn’t read many books or novels, Ina said she enjoys watching action movies and ones that follow stories about the mafia. “I watch a lot of movies, so I thought, ‘why can’t I make this like a movie?'” she said.
The inspiration for Bernice “just came to Ina”, she explained. She gets a lot of her ideas from her dreams. Ina has many vivid dreams, and she has written many stories based on her dreams.
While none of the characters Ina created in Bernice are based on anyone Ina has met in real life, her past jobs and volunteer work have given her great insight into other people’s lives.
Ina decided to name her book Bernice because the publishing company, which is out of British Columbia, said Bernice’s character was the best character in the book.
She spoke to Bill Minors, owner of Books Galore, about publishing a book, and he suggested contacting FriesenPress.
If you’re interested in reading Bernice, by Ina Cass, it’s available at Books Galore in Port Perry, located at 175 Perry Street, next to Port Perry Pharmacy and across from the Royal Bank.
Bernice is also available as an Ebook on Amazon or the FriesenPress website.