When Heidi Wicks was researching for Here, she experienced a chance encounter that might have made a fitting entry for the book. It happened the day she toured the heritage property on Circular Road in St. John's that — in effect — became the book's central character.

"I came out of the house," said Wicks. "I was walking home, and I ran into a friend on the street, and I said I was working on something about this house in the neighbourhood. And she said, 'My friend lived there for 30 years, and …