Selena Robins, Author

Please help me welcome Michelina Pagano, author of THE ROAD TO JUDE.

For details on how you can obtain your FREE copy of this critically acclaimed novel, please see below.

SPIRITUAL ROMANCE

 An enchanted journey into the afterlife. A story of hope and courage set against the backdrop of September 11th.

THE ROAD TO JUDE is about a wondrous journey into the afterlife, set against the backdrop of September 11^th. In this story a young woman wakes up into an existence she can’t explain. Without memories or belongings, she ventures out into this world made of nothing but concrete. Along the way, she meets a fireman she calls Hero. He names her Pretty One. Together they begin on a road into a reality filled unusual things: paper snow, a thinking tree, a little boy named Possibility, and a deserted city where shoes fall from the sky.  It’s a place where every encounter is symbolic.

Compelling,Thought Provoking with a Heart Wrenching yet Tender Romance

Review by Selena Robins

The Road to Jude is an excellent crafted book that will take you on an imaginary, but possible journey of a young woman after September 11. This book is a must read and a true inspiration to anyone who has lost someone dear to them. For anyone who has ever wondered about the importance of your life, or your affect and contribution to another person’s life. For those of us who have wondered what happens to our departed loved ones, asking ourselves: “Where are they now? Do they feel my love? Can they see me? Do they know how much they meant to me?”

Michelina Pagano has developed characters that will stay with the reader long after you have finished The Road to Jude. The dialogue is crisp; the humor is endearing and the plot mesmerizing.

Michelina Pagano is an author who uses her creative gift to reach out and touch the reader, move the reader to tears and smiles, giving her readers a lot to consider about how we live our everyday lives, and to the mysteries of the afterlife. This book reminds us all, that every single human being on earth has significance and that even in inexplicable tragedy we are connected to one another.

I can guarantee that after reading The Road To Jude you will never forget the thought provoking lessons all the characters and their realistic fears and hopes. This book will sit on my to be read again and again shelf. I highly recommend this book.

As a native New Yorker, Michelina shares her personal journey revolving around that tragic day, ten years ago and events which inspired THE ROAD TO JUDE.

Michelina Pagano: The premise of the story came from an image. For weeks after 9/11 an odd cloud hovered above the place where the towers had once stood. I first noticed it while driving over the fifty-ninth-street bridge. It just hung there for weeks, luminous and heavy, sitting over the city. I started to think that maybe it wasn’t a cloud at all, but the collective spirit of all those who died that day, looking down on us. That single indelible image became the inspiration for the book.

There were quite a number of influences that contributed to this story. As a native New Yorker living in Manhattan, the experience of September 11^th was vivid and incomprehensible, like a bed dream. The smell of charred concrete lingered in the air for weeks. Tiny shreds of business cards and papers fluttered in the sky like snowflakes.  There was an eerie quiet to the city. My block was shut down and patrolled by the armed forces for months. On that day, a friend of mine (Tony) was working by the towers and had escaped with his life. That guy is now my husband. We were married on the first anniversary of September 11^th.  Running from the towers and being covered in soot is an indelible memory for Tony, one he still talks about today.

When tragedy struck my city, we all really wanted to do something to help. My friends and I brought food to the firemen and volunteered at the Red Cross to log in names of those who were missing.  I couldn’t believe how many people were really missing. There were banks of volunteers working everyday for weeks, typing in the details of someone’s life into a database. It was amazing how a person’s life could be reduced to a single sheet of paper. The fact that none of those people were ever found, really struck me. It meant that there were so many families in pain. I wanted to do something personal, from my heart, something that would somehow help comfort these people. My small contribution was this book, The Road To Jude.

Ten years later, the Red Cross is now a luxury apartment building. A shiny new tower is almost completed at the former twin tower site. But the memories of that day linger in our hearts – and will forever.

The impact this book had on readers really surprised me. I’ve heard that people were buying this book as a gift for others, especially for those who had lost a loved one. I never expected it to have the emotional response it has received. Not in my wildest dreams. Some readers said the story gave them comfort. A few others said the book confirmed what they’ve always imagined the Afterlife to be like, but never talked about it. This has truly been an amazing experience.

Micki Pagano-Parente and Tony Parente are co-founders of Branding Shorts, a video production company specializing in video branding for small business and publishers. 

To download a FREE copy of THE ROAD TO JUDE, please click here, and simply click on the book’s cover for your copy.