Seeing Dead People Pays Off for Author

Even in troubled times, it helps to escape into a solid but fantastic story with engaging and lovable but idiosyncratic characters speaking dialogue that “reads like eavesdropping.” Mixing the bygone ideals of the past with the shady realities of today can seriously satisfy a reader’s soul. Gabriela Herink’s new book The Gifted Ones does just that in a fresh and natural style.

At the tender age of three, when most little girls were playing with dolls and talking to imaginary friends, so was Anastasia—except her friends weren’t imaginary, but the wandering dead. Because of their refusal to accept their untimely deaths, they became trapped in the world they should have passed from, eventually acquiescing and desiring to cross over―and she helps them pass. 

But she soon realizes it’s a gift that alienates her, and just wants to be like everyone else―normal. Attaining a fragile sense of normalcy in her adult life, she is a South Florida designer and entrepreneur in the art glass field.  Although she is married with one child and seems content with her life, it soon changes dramatically when she meets an amazing man and believes by his tale, which, though true, is more fantastic than her own. She is propelled into an abominable world she never knew existed, and from which she may not escape….

Gabriela has fascinated audiences with her wonderful stories since childhood. Born in Czechoslovakia, she escaped with her parents during the Soviet invasion. Her father subsequently returned to Czechoslovakia, and she experienced not only deprivation, but found she had a learning disability, which made becoming an author almost inconceivable. But her tenacity, insight, and the fortunate influences of her teachers made this unique story come alive. She currently lives in South Florida with a quirky, but loving, family.  The Gifted Ones is the first in a series of novels.