The Angel Connection

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An introduction to The Angel Connection...

BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

1999

“Mom, wake up!”

I was dozing in the backyard, lulled by the dizzying perfume of my ancient lilac bush, now swollen with plump lavender blooms. The familiar fragrance hovered in the air, intensified by the warmth of the early afternoon sun.

I admit that I sleep more than I should. I am seduced by sleep. Sleep is my secret addiction, my hidden agenda. Little sips of catnaps, longer draughts of siestas, drunken all-night orgies of deep slumber.

You see, it’s only in sleep that I’m truly awake, alive. And blissfully, so is he.

Just now, as I dozed, we’d been joyfully flesh to flesh, spirit to spirit, meshing and mingling through time and space. I tighten my embrace in a last lingering moment, then reluctantly open my eyes.

My son stands over me, his tall silhouette black and dazzlingly backlit.

I shift in the lawn chair, shading my eyes. “What?”

“Bad news,” he says without preamble.

I sit up now, fully alert, bracing myself for whatever it is.“What?” I say, warily.

He pauses.

“Tell me,” I say. Don’t tell me.

“It’s Madame.”

Not totally unexpected, but still, a body blow. “Oh, no. Is she…?”

He nods. “Last night. In her sleep.”

Guilt washes over me. “I should have been there,” I say, thinking of her dying alone, wishing I’d visited more often.

Tears blur the cell phone that Chad passes to me. “It’s her lawyer from Paris,” he says.

I hesitate. This is happening too soon, too soon.

The lawyer’s voice, though heavily accented, is assertive and to the point. After the briefest exchange of condolences, he asks the one hundred million dollar question:

“And so the time has come. What do you propose to do about The Angel Collection?”

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Judith Anne Barton shares her thoughts on writing The Angel Connection...

Disillusioned by my own recent divorce, yet still a romantic at heart, I was inspired to write the perfect love story-one that I would fall into as a reader. Like my modern day protagonist Morgan, I had just relocated-escaped is more like it!-to a quaint historic village in Bucks County Pennsylvania. The achingly beautiful countryside, coupled with the spirits of artists who had flocked there for centuries seeking a Muse, set the stage for a compelling, timeless, mystical love story. My immersion in Yoga and Eastern Spiritualism sparked the idea for parallel universes: two creative women, born a century apart, living in the same house, unable to reconcile their artistic passion with the obligations of family and the longing for true love. The intriguing prospect of re-incarnation was in place.

SPECIFIC DESIGN IDEAS

While writing The Angel Connection, I scoured local antique stores, pouring through boxes of old photographs, searching for images that captured my novel’s 1895 characters as I imagined them. I also took photographs of the existing locations where in my imagination, parallel seminal events took place in the story one hundred years apart. In some cases I sepia toned the photos. I believe the pictures of the people and places from the 1895 story will add an intriguing richness to The Angel Connection; bringing the characters vividly alive for the reader, so that the question will often be posed: Did this really happen? Kind of similar to The Bridges of Madison County.

WHAT DISTINGUISHES YOUR BOOK?

What experience matches becoming lost in a book, a story? My readers will ride an emotional roller coaster, falling deeply in love, not just with the characters from 1895 and 1996, but with the historic and evocative locations where Angel and Daniel, and later Morgan and Victor live out their passions and their destiny. The mystery of The Angel Connection will keep the reader breathlessly turning the page with one hand, and wringing out a hanky with the other; struggling along with the characters to understand powerful universal forces beyond their control. As a voracious reader, this would be my favorite book of all time, because it has all of the elements that appeal to me: First: authentic intelligent, flawed, creative female protagonists conflicted between artistic fulfillment and domestic obligations. Next: passion, mystery, heartbreak and tragedy, deep human connections, beautiful locales, mysticism, and powerful karmic redemption.

WHAT IS THE GENRE?

Upmarket Women’s Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Romantic Fiction

WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?

Women of all ages who are searching for the quintessential love story that is character driven, with strong, intelligent female protagonists struggling to gain creative and personal fulfillment against mysterious karmic forces beyond their understanding. Women who want at least three

good, sopping cries, and a page turner of powerful paranormal suspense. Women who seek out sophisticated writing and lyrical prose, against an the achingly beautiful backdrops of Bucks County Pennsylvania and Giverny France.

WHAT IS THE THEME OF THE ANGEL CONNECTION?

The Angel Connection is part spine-tingling mystery, part timeless love story, seducing the reader to consider the very real possibility of lives lived before and karmic retribution. It’s told in the first person voices of its two female protagonists, Angel and Morgan. They were born a century apart, yet are mysteriously linked by long held secrets in the Rectory, an old house that Morgan impulsively moves into in 1996, unaware of the drama that unfolded there one hundred years ago. But she will ultimately find out at deep personal cost. Both women struggle with the universal conflict of all women: how to balance personal fulfillment, relationship, family and career. Both are artists, yearning for creative expression. Both seek enduring passion, both are loving mothers. The Angel Connection resonates with themes similar to John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the novels of Diana Galbadon, the relatable characters of Nora Roberts, the karmic threads of the recently released Sea Change by Karen White.