Novelist Cathy Fiorello Unveils New Romantic Suspense-Thriller, Dreamreader

Debut Novelist Cathy Fiorello Explores the Unique Connection Between Identical Twins Separated at Birth

WordCrafts Press and author Cathy Fiorello are celebrating this week’s unveiling of her debut novel, Dreamreader, which is now available worldwide in hardback, trade paperback, and all major ebook formats. The romantic suspense-thriller uses a dual point-of-view to investigate the psychic connection between twins separated at birth and the role faith plays in the midst of the devastating twists and turns that fate throws at everyone at some point in their lives.

“Grace Maddox, the main character of Dreamreader, is on the cusp of a series of discoveries that will change her life forever,” author Cathy Fiorello explains. “Fears and forebodings, shrouded in the language of dreams, catapult her into a wildly unpredictable journey as she searches for the truth about what happened to her twin sister. Grace learns how her family’s reaction to a decades-old crime shaped her own developing personality. But on her journey, she also discovers gifts and graces in herself she never knew existed.”

From the Novel

When the lights went down, and the concert began, Grace sank low in her seat and closed her eyes so she could listen for her sister. Then the cellophane sheet of blue came between her and everyone else. Her pulse pounded in her ears. Whoosh! The water. She saw her face stare back at her, wet and scared. She tried to stay absolutely still, hoping it would pass.

The whole episode was over in less than a minute, but, like a seizure, it left her weak as a baby. A baby? Like the baby who lived in her head? Was that baby seeing all this? It had never seemed weird to talk to her, but maybe even that was crazy.

Grace closed her eyes again and tried to relax. But how, when she was turning schizo? Was her mental software crashing, or were these some kind of Ezekiel-style visions? Did she need a shrink, a neurologist, or an exorcist?

“My first career was as a high school English teacher,” Cathy confesses. “Although I hated teaching grammar and grading my student’s essays, I loved teaching literature because we got to talk about how authors reveal the inner lives of their characters. Often those conversations led my students to share their own family and romantic woes after class.

“After marrying and having my children – including a set of identical twins – I returned to school to study family therapy. I was particularly intrigued by the way a family’s history shapes their experiences in life. Dreamreader not only explores that theme, but also how faith can heal all kinds of sorrows.”

Cathy also credits her interest in the practice of writing down one’s dreams with providing a critical plot point in her novel. “Biblically, God sometimes used dreams to direct people,” she says. “In my own life, dreams have occasionally issued warnings. Writing about the way Grace Maddox’s dreams guide her to a hidden truth is essential to the plot of Dreamreader.”

“Dreamreader is a compelling, slow-burn, suspense-thriller that had me turning the page’s long after the midnight oil had already burned out,” declared WordCrafts Press publisher, Mike Parker. “Cathy Fiorello knows how to tell a story!”

“I lived with the characters of this book for quite a while,” Cathy adds. “Sometimes they frustrated me, sometimes they surprised me, but I found myself on my own adventure as I wrote about Grace’s journey to self-discovery.”

About Cathy Fiorello