Review: Drama--At Its Finest



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 Separation of Faith


By Cheri Laser











While the title, Separation of Faith, by Cheri Laser has a somewhat religious title--and a few nuns as characters, I found the overall drama was the major drawing point for potential readers--Drama at its Finest!

The story centers around the life of Abby Ryan and begins when she has died. Better said, it moves between her early life in the mid-40's and the present. Abby is being buried as Sister Abby and at her funeral, Father Moynihan who had known her since she had been young, had said:

"Her life's mission and purpose only became clear to her when she stopped trying to define and direct herself and began, instead, to listen..." (p. 294) As with all of us, we spend so much time proceeding to "do," that we sometimes never achieve the life that we could have or should have had. In Abby's case, it wasn't that she totally ignored what she was to do with her life--it was more that things just kept happening to her!

Tess and Abby had been friends throughout school. Tess had always talked about becoming a Nun, while Abby would try to talk her out of it. But after Tess had gone, Abby was invited to spend some time there to learn more about Tess's calling.

While she was there, she was most of the time separated from Tess, but Abby did begin to feel a peace and contentment that she could not remember ever having experienced.

But during that time, two men had broken in and attacked her. Fortunately soldiers back from the war were also there for a retreat and they pulled the men away from Abby. She immediately changed her mind and went back home.

One of those soldiers, Sinclair Mellington, became Abby's life-long friend as well as her lawyer.

Abby had at one time planned to become a journalist, so once the trauma of the attack was over, she entered school and later with excellent recommendations, began working, fortunately for a woman who became her mentor as well as a good friend. It was on an assignment, where she had needed to attend on her own, that she met the man who would later physically assault her...

It was only upon seeing his engagement announcement soon after that Abby became strong enough with anger, to call Sinclair and share what had happened. Sinclair immediately contacted the family and negotiated not only a settlement, but the parents agreed to use their considerable influence to get Abby a job. In turn, Abby was required to give up all legal rights to the baby that had been born from that earlier assault...for the family decided that "their" child, no matter how it had occurred, should not be put up for adoption, as Abby had planned.

Abby's job would be at a prestigious newspaper in Washington, D.C. At least that had been what the agreement indicated. But when she arrived at the newspaper office, Abby was immediately sent to a branch office in another state for a "Special Assignment." It wasn't hard to figure out that she really didn't have that job that had been promised!

When Abby was alone or talking to Father Moynihan, she had begun to think about what types of things were happening to her. Was it possible that Abby's life's mission was really to have become a Nun? Now Abby was in North Carolina, having finished the special assignment that she learned would never be published and finding the newspaper would continue to pay her but really had no work at that time. She obviously had no other option, she resigned. But Abby had already been pulled into the lives of the individuals with whom she had been working and when an emergency and subsequent death occurred, Abby agreed to stay for awhile to help...before she again returned to the Church to become a nun.

The Mellington family were wealthy and Sinclair's death left Isaiah and his mother to go on alone. Isaiah was 58, had never really worked much at the family law firm, but had spent most of his time helping his mother with her many social and charitable obligations. So, it was a complete surprise when he was contacted by Tess to come and deal with the funeral arrangements and legal issues, as arranged by Sinclair and Sister Abby. Isaiah discovered that he had to act immediately because Abby's work in her community had been so well-known and effective that it was expected that there would be crowds coming and separate services would be held for the Church and the community.

And that began the most amazing few weeks as seven individuals were pulled together by the death of Sister Abby, and into lives that would be forever changed! This is one fantastic story--prepare to cry, laugh and be amazed by what can happen to families when one individual is called of God--and He expects and continues to wait for the right answer! I loved it. If you ask me, this is a must-read! For so many reasons!



G. A. Bixler

Cheri Laser's Latest Is Separation of Faith! Review Coming Soon

Author Cheri Laser Reminds Us That Knowing Who We Are Is Prelude to Uncovering Our Destiny

In the summer of 1945, as World War II is ending, Abby Ryan is studying to become a nun. On the serene grounds of the convent in Kettle Falls, Washington, she is assaulted by trespassers and rescued by Sinclair Mellington, a handsome army captain attending a retreat at the institution.

The war that had gripped her nation for four years, taking tens of thousands of soldiers to their graves, had finally, thankfully, ended, filling the summer of 1945 with jubilation across the country and the world. But that joy was somehow escaping Abigail Ryan, and she didn’t know why. Worse, she felt guilty because her problems were so small by comparison. What in God’s name is wrong with me? Breathing deeply, she was pulled into a sleep that temporarily released her from the questions and the struggle.

Decades later, in the fall of 2008, Isaiah Mellington, a middle-aged unemployed attorney, receives a letter written years earlier by his now deceased father, asking him to wrap up loose ends in the wake of Sister Abby’s passing. He travels to Kettle Falls, expecting to only be there for a weekend. Instead, Isaiah discovers that Sister Abby’s loose ends are connected to a life she lived outside the convent. Eight days after his arrival, he is still in Kettle Falls with four women—an aging former nun who is the keeper of Abby’s secrets, a romantic interest of his own, and two others whose lives are being hijacked by Sister Abby’s past.

As betrayal encroaches upon Isaiah as well, a half century of lies slowly unravels, shredding the fabric of everything he has ever known and everyone he has ever loved.


For a review copy of Separation of Faith or to interview Ms. Laser,
please contact Melissa Maritsch, Executive Assistant, 201-274-3758.

“Cheri Laser continues to flex her muscles as a novelist, giving us characters we come to care about and root for.” --Bill Ervolino Columnist with The Record Author of Some Kind of Wise Guy


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Separation of Faith has already earned the Editor’s Choice designation from her publisher for editorial excellence. Here's a short excerpt...


“Dear God,” she said plaintively once she’d listened to Isaiah’s voice explaining his revised itinerary. “Oh, no—not now,” she whispered as the color began to fade from her fresh facial. “Not yet.”


Brushing a surge of exasperating tears from her eyes, she rose, walked over to her desk, and opened the center drawer. After sifting through her collection of notebooks and newspaper clippings, she removed a small leather address book, closed the drawer, and returned to the loveseat. There she dialed Isaiah’s cell phone, but she wasn’t surprised when he failed to answer. After all, she thought, looking at her watch, it’s not even two o’clock yet. Still, she had hoped.


Fingering the address book, she hesitated before turning the pages to the last part of the A’s, where her eyes came to rest on her husband’s handwriting. “Abby—Sister Mary Abigail, Lady of the Valley Convent, Kettle Falls.” Just below that notation was another listing that read “Sister Veronica,” which had a single red line drawn through those printed letters. Written next to that was “Tess now—1971,” followed by a phone number and the words “house, not convent.”


Sarah picked up the telephone but then lowered the handset just as quickly into her lap and took another sip of coffee. When she raised the phone again, nearly an hour had evaporated before she’d summoned enough courage to make the call.


 

Cheri Laser earned a BA in Communications from San Francisco State University, along with what she calls "an unofficial Minor in English." During a 25-year career in corporate marketing, she never stopped writing, after winning prizes for her work in high school and college. In the year 2000, she began weaning herself away from the corporate world and reinventing herself and her resume so she could seriously pursue her literary dreams. She is now a freelance editor and has published two novels--Separation of Faith, released in September 2010, and The Truth About Cinnamon, in December 2003. She is also preparing to release a re-edited Second Edition of The Truth About Cinnamon, which is scheduled to be available by the end of October 2010. A long-term cancer survivor, Ms. Laser is presently working on a non-fiction project about the fine art of survival. Her third novel is in development as well, in addition to a memoir. "Writing has always been a part of who I am," Ms. Laser says, "with the art form emerging as a passion when I was about ten years old. And that remained true throughout my decades in corporate America when I was stuffing things I'd written into drawers and briefcases. But now my writing is second only to my family in terms of what I do and how I dedicate my life. A part of me wishes sometimes that I'd started the pursuit and focus earlier. But another part of me says that I wouldn't have been ready any sooner. Apparently, I needed to live a big chunk of life first before my writing could rise even close to the level of my dreams. Clearly, I'm not there yet--but absolutely nothing is ever going to stop me from trying to get there now."

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