Out of tragedy and despair… love and hope.
White Rock's Marlene Worrall writes romances – or, to be more accurate, Christian romances.
Her novella, Love Found In Manhattan, and her full-length novel, Angel In Shining Armour, both published by Texas-based Lovely Christian Romance Press in 2015, are currently available on amazon.com but will shortly be on the shelves of local booksellers – likely in time for Valentine's Day, appropriately enough.
And romance fans will also have a chance to check out the novels during an author signing event tonight (Friday) from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Pacific Inn Resort and Conference Centre, 1160 King George Blvd.
Given the former real-estate agent's background, it's not surprising that both of her works exhibit the skills of a storyteller plus a flair for the dramatic.
A sometime screenwriter, she has also been a film and television actor in the U.S., and her credits include a featured role in the original stage production of the musical Promises, Promises in London's West End, under her former professional name of Angela Norviik.
In Love Found In Manhattan, she tells the tale of Tiffany Vandermeer, a wealthy young New York woman who – in a single day – loses her parents to a plane crash, discovers an infant abandoned in an alleyway, and bumps into the man who seems to be destined to be her soulmate, obstetrician Dr. Jason Prescott.
In Angel in Shining Armour, Ayita High-Eagle, a young woman of Cherokee heritage, is on the brink of suicide – unable to deal with the lifestyle of an abusive, alcoholic and promiscuous mother.
The sudden supernatural appearance of an angel opens a new vista of opportunity for her – including the potential of becoming a Nashville recording artist. But she must reconcile this path with her growing attraction to a man she met by chance during a blizzard – debonair, yet cynical, Valdez Lopez.
They're romances with all the richness of incident and real-life problems of non-faith-based stories – the only real difference, Worrall said, is that the main characters make choices based on Christian principles.
"They're about people who are living as Jesus would have us live."
Intrigued with writing since she was a child, Worrall began writing in earnest a few years ago when challenged by a creative-writing course to create an outline for a novel, she said.
Worrall admits that she has no shortage of inspiration in her own life. It has had its share of twists and turns, brushes with fame and temptation and periods when her own Christian faith and emotional balance – and confidence in her talents – was shaken by the influence of the men in her life (one, disastrously, counselled her to not take a continuing role on a well-known soap because it was "too small").
"(At one point) I went to a Billy Graham Crusade and I had a complete revelation – I realized I was serving another god, and that god was show business."
She determined to give up acting altogether – only to get a call from an agent suggesting her for the plum role of extravagant actress Vera Charles in a Florida production of Mame (although technically far too young for the role, she carried it off to great critical success).
"I walked away from show business and God gave it back to me," she said.
For more information visit www.marleneworrall.com