THE BELIEF in Angels

"Last night I dreamt Moses and I were rowing underwater.

We could breathe and talk to one another.

We rowed past schools of fish

and sea anemones and Moses named them for me."

--Jules Finn (heroine)

In Yates’ debut novel, a woman growing up in a dysfunctional family and her Holocaust-survivor grandfather are shaped by their experiences of surviving pain through moments of grace. Alternating sections from [her two protagonists'] points of view follow their emotional journeys, Yates shows much skill in description, characterization and dialogue, and she’s insightful about the mental state of abused children . . . Yates vividly evokes time and place. Well-written. ~ Kirkus Reviews

THE BELIEF IN Angels by J. Dylan Yates (Guest Article)

Growing up in her parents’ crazy hippie household on a tiny island off the coast of Boston, Jules’s imaginative sense of humor is the weapon she wields to dodge household chaos. But somewhere between routine discipline with horsewhips, gun-waving gambling debt collectors, and LSD-laced breakfast cereal adventures, tragedy strikes with the death of her younger brother—a blow from which Jules may never fully recover.

Jules’ story alternates with that of her Grandfather Samuel, a man with a sad story of his own. Samuel, once called Szaja, is an orthodox Jew who lived through the murderous Ukrainian pogroms of the 1920s and the Majdanek Death Camp—but whose survival came at a price that’s haunted him for years.

Winner of a 2014 USA BEST BOOKS award, THE BELIEF IN Angels, is a gripping, heart-rending family saga that explores the darkest side of human nature— and the incontrovertible, uplifting power of hope, spans more than fifty years, from the Ukrainian pogroms in the 1920's to a chaotic Hippie Household in the late 1970's. Vividly drawn, breathtakingly insightful, beautiful and heartbreaking!

Author J. Dylan Yates

From J. Dylan Yates ~ Amazon Author Page:

THE BELIEF IN Angels, Dylan's debut novel, was written over the course of many years while she attempted a number of BFA-related jobs, including: waitressing, teaching, corporate training, real estate, nursing, interior design, directing, acting, producing, parenting, library science and reluctant housewifery.

Prior to publication, THE BELIEF IN ANGELS won the Alexis Masters Scholarship Award at the February 2012 San Francisco Writers Conference as well as a Los Angeles Book Festival Award.
Stay in touch via her webpage: www.jdylanyates.com

THE BELIEF IN Angels is available on Amazon!