Laura Lee was book for a previous “A Book and a Chat”, however the winter storm that caused the lack a week without power in Connecticut led to that show being cancelled, however I am glad to say that she was able to be a guest on today’s “make-up” show.Previously the author of twelve non-fiction books nonfiction books, including Broke is Beautiful, the Elvis Impersonation Kit, Blame It on the Rain, and 100 Most Dangerous Things in Everyday Life. In fact it was one of these non-fiction books that started the thought creation that lead to her debut novel “Angel”.
She wrote a book called “Bad Predictions” weird predictions, that never happened, earth is flat, man will never fly etc. She was, as a form of comic relief invited to be speaker at a conference put on by NASA. All went well, and after her success addressing a group of actual rocket scientists, she decided that she deserved a reward and I took a bus tour of Mount Rainier.
Throughout the tour, the guide kept mentioning burning out on his old job. Towards the end of the tour, someone asked him what his old job had been. He said, “I was a minister.”
This got her thinking and started the thoughts that with several other pieces of the puizzle and many years later lead to her writing “Angel”
About “Angel”:
Since the loss of his lively, charming wife to cancer six years ago, minister Paul Tobit has been operating on autopilot, performing his religious duties by rote. Everything changes the day he enters the church lobby and encounters a radiant, luminous being lit from behind, breathtakingly beautiful and glowing with life. An angel. For a moment Paul is so moved by his vision that he is tempted to fall on his knees and pray.
Even after he regains his focus and realizes he simply met a flesh-and-blood young man, Paul cannot shake his sense of awe and wonder. He feels an instant and overwhelming attraction for the young man, which puzzles him even as it fills his thoughts and fires his feelings. Paul has no doubt that God has spoken to him through this vision, and Paul must determine what God is calling him to do.
Thus begins a journey that will inspire Paul’s ministry but put him at odds with his church as he is forced to examine his deeply held beliefs and assumptions about himself, his community, and the nature of love.
Angel is a romance but not with a capital “R”. As one reviewer put it…
"Angel" a romance novel. Yes, but no. It provokes thought and feelings within ourselves. It hits the inner question of who we think we are. It pokes at the tender spot in our soul. Do we really know ourselves? And if we go in a new direction, what does that do with our lives and who we think we are? And society, how they view us and what if we do change, how will they judge and view us then? I found "Angel" to be about how we see ourselves and how society sees us. Strong feelings can evoke and change one's life. It is what we do with it. "Angel" puts that question within each one of us.
It is a book that will make you think, you know that the relationship and the church might be heading for a non-happy ending yet you feel you have to keep turning the pages, to find out more.
As Laura wrote…
What is interesting to me is how much people bring to a novel themselves. The author only writes half, the reader writes the other half. I would love to discover that people found things in it that I didn’t see in there myself.
So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I spend thirty minutes sharing "A Book and a Chat with Laura Lee
Barry
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A Book and a Chat with Laura Lee
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"Laura Lee"
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"Laura Lee - Angel"
Barry Eva (Storyheart)
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