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THE BOOKS

THE BELIEF IN Angels

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 Ukranian pogroms of the 1920s and the Majdanek Death Camp—but whose survival came at a price that’s haunted him for years.

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SZAJA'S STORY (In Development)

Dylan's next novel in this series is a prequel focused on the character Szaja/Samuel Trautman, created in THE BELIEF IN Angels.

Szaja's Story takes us back to Szaja's tragic, early experiences as a WWII survivor of the Majdanek Death Camp and the torpedoing of the refugees aboard the Mefkura. When Szaja finally gains his freedom after the war, he begins a fascinating life working in the Parisien post-war couture houses alongside the famed atelier, Lucien Lelong, the man who stood up to Hitler and was responsible for keeping Paris (and not Germany), the fashion capital of the world.

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NEWS

AWARDS FOR THE BELIEF IN Angels

Winner 2015 THEODOR S. GEISEL Award

Winner 2015 San Diego Book Award for General Fiction

Winner 2014 USA BEST BOOK AWARD for Cross-Genre Fiction

Finalist 2014INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD for Literary Fiction

... for the YA Version- THE BELIEF IN Angels: Jules

2018 INDEPENDENT AUTHOR NETWORK BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

2018 Finalist WISHING SHELF BOOK AWARD

Winner of the 2015 IPPY AWARD
Finalist 2015 USA BEST BOOK AWARD
Semi-Finalist 2015 KINDLE BOOK AWARD
Honorable Mention 2015 LEAPFROG PRESS AWARD

CRITICAL REVIEWS

"... 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 Ukranian pogroms in the 1920's to a chaotic Hippie Household in the late 1970's. Vividly drawn and breathtakingly insightful, this story is a beautiful, heartbreaking exploration of human nature at its worst and its best." -Publishers Weekly

"... Yates shows much skill in description, characterization, and dialogue, and she’s insightful about the mental state of abused children, as when Jules learns to compartmentalize: “I began to see my life in parts. When something bad, or weird, or crazy happened, like my father having a gun and threatening my mother, I’d say to myself: This is the part where my father points a gun at my mother’s head. Yates vividly evokes time and place, whether it’s Samuel’s childhood among the apple orchards in Ukraine, the bleakness of a Cape Cod tourist town in winter or Wendy’s psychedelic decorating style. Well-written." -Kirkus Reviews

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ABOUT THE BELIEF IN Angels

A raw and haunting coming-of-age, story of survival.

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J. Dylan Yates Author