Author Brings Spiritual Tale of Local Woman to Life

Local jazz singer and author, Karen Cameron-Brook will be signing copies of her newly-published book, “She Sees Angels,” at a book signing on Saturday, Feb. 25 from 12 to 2 p.m.

The event will be held at Together in HIS Name Christian book store at their new location, 44 Lafayette Road in the Fern Crossing Plaza, just a few doors down from the North Hampton Post Office.

“She Sees Angels” is a true story about the personal journey of a woman named Grace, a singer and artist whose spiritual gifts are put under fire when she is faced with traumatic memories she has unconsciously suppressed for years.

It tells a story of finding a voice and holding on to hope and God’s healing, while triumphing over abuse, recovering from physical illness, and learning to be creative again.

Through this transformational journey, Grace is given what she believes is a miraculous gift from God — the ability to see angels.

According to Cameron-Brook, the road to publishing “She Sees Angels” began six years ago during a rehearsal of the octet of which she and Grace are members at Bethany Congregational Church in Greenland.

“We had scheduled to rehearse on a Monday night,” Cameron-Brook recalled. “After the others had left, one woman stayed and told me that there were three angels in the room as we rehearsed.”

That, said Cameron-Brook, was the beginning of a long and surprising journey the two women have shared, culminating in the book she wrote documenting Grace’s story — some of which reflects much personal pain.

“She told me about flashbacks about things in the past that had been blotted out of her memory,” said Cameron-Brook.

As they continued to meet regularly, it seemed the singers were always accompanied by the angels Grace could see.

“Each Monday night the same three angels appeared when we rehearsed,” said Cameron-Brook who, like Grace, is a woman of strong faith in God. “Two were guards at the doors, and one simply sat on the piano and enjoyed the music; I call him ‘the jazz angel.’”

The jazz angel “looks like my husband’s son, who Grace had never seen,” said Cameron-Brook. This angel “doesn’t have any wings and doesn’t have any shoes,” she added.

Grace did see wings, however, on another angel she saw, which she eventually captured in a watercolor painting that is featured in the new book that documents her story.

“She painted it and left it at my house,” said Cameron-Brook. “It was obvious it was me in the painting. I asked her if it was my guardian angel and she said, ‘It’s the angel I see whenever you pray.’”

As the book started to develop, Cameron-Brook would receive journal entries from Grace, “and our e-mails back and forth looked like a story that had to be told,” said the author. “We worked on the manuscript together at first, but at some point she decided to let go of the writing and let me craft the story on my own.”

Cameron-Brook admitted that, upon realizing “that this was a powerful story,” she wondered if she should be the one writing it.

“I questioned whether I’d be able to write it as powerful as it really was,” she said. “That was the thought that I wasn’t supposed to be the one to do it.”

In fact, Cameron-Brook ended up setting the developing manuscript aside for a few years and started her third non-fiction story, about an Ethiopian boy entitled “Kadane” (her first book was “Prayer and All That Jazz”).

However, it came to a screeching halt, said Cameron-Brook, “when I got a thought that stopped me cold. I couldn’t write another sentence.”

She said she could hear a voice telling her, “You cannot write your third book until you finish the other one. You have to go back and finish it.”

“That is not my M-O,” Cameron-Brook said. “I know that was a message from God. I believe it was His perfect timing.”

So she listened, and now Grace’s amazing story is available at the Water Street Book Store in Exeter; the Galley Hatch Restaurant in Hampton, from amazon.com, and at karencameron.com.

Cameron-Brook has already received encouraging feedback and praise for  “She Sees Angels,” which has impacted the men and women who have read it — some of them in one sitting.

Fans have called it “a real page-turner,” “a must-read,” “inspiring,” a story that is “intricately and skillfully woven together to deliver a very powerful message about prayer and faith.”

And while stories of angels in general can carry a meaningful message to anyone whatever their faith may be, there is something even more significant being shared through “She Sees Angels.”

“The real message of Grace’s story,” said Cameron-Brook, “is that there is hope and healing for those who are hurting.”

In addition to the Feb. 25 book signing, Cameron-Brook will be one of the featured speakers at a Celebrate Recovery event on Thursday, March 22 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Bethany Church in Greenland.

Copies of “She Sees Angels” will be available, and some of Grace’s artwork will be on display. All are welcome to attend.

Karen Cameron-Brook said she wears many hats because she doesn’t like to be bored. In addition to being an author and jazz singer, she is also a vocal/piano instructor, an elementary school teacher, and serves on the prayer team and praise band at Bethany Church.

She has shared the stage with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and has performed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra and her own band, Something Cool.

More information may be found at www.karencameron.com.