After more than a year of work, Ellen LaCorte’s debut novel The Perfect Fraud has her on a new journey and a book tour set to start its New Jersey leg next week.
“To have the novel be so well received early on is surreal for me. I am amazed that I even have a book that was picked up by Harper Collins,” she said. “I am not used to this experience at all. I do not know where it will go, it has gotten some great reviews early on. Just the fact that this book is out there is amazing.”
The Titusville resident and debut novelist worked on The Perfect Fraud for 21 months.
LaCorte said the book encompasses two experiences she had.
“One of them is that I am a tear it out person, so if I read an article that intrigues me I would tear them out and file them. One of the women characters is formed by that. The other woman lead is based off a kooky experience with a psychic,” she said.
“When my husband and I were in a little town in Pennsylvania we went to see two separate psychics at the same time. We met up afterward and he said his psychic was wonderful, for me it was different. My psychic tried to get me to pay $465 to get on a higher spiritual plain, while also suggesting I was not contributing to my marriage,” LaCorte said. “Fortunately, I took a breath and did not take out my wallet. What struck me was what better way to get a woman to open up her wallet by telling her she is not doing enough.”
She said the experience with the psychic was what made her create Claire Hathaway one of the women leads in the book.
LaCorte’s The Perfect Fraud takes readers into an intertwined journey between medicine, the supernatural and two women.
Hathaway one of main characters referenced earlier comes from a family of professional psychics. However, Hathaway hides that she doesn’t really have the psychic gift like her mother and grandmother.
Her life journey collides with Rena Cole the other main character the book centers around, who is a divorced mother and avid mommy blogger anxious to help her sick daughter, Stephanie, who is plagued by a mysterious stomach ailment. Cole packs up and moves across the country to consult a special doctor in Phoenix, according to LaCorte.
During a seat change on an airplane Cole and Hathaway journeys come together. Neither of the two women think much of the other. But when Clair experiences real paranormal visions the two women become unlikely allies in a battle with evil that could determine Stephanie’s fate, LaCorte said.
LaCorte describes both Hathaway and Cole as two very strong women.
“Claire (Hathaway) has had experiences in her life that have formed who she is by the time we meet her. Her dad has been critically ill for most of her life and was burdened with taken care of him because her mother was so fragile,” she said. “Claire moved to Sedona because she wanted to get a way from that overwhelming sense of responsibility she had to take on. She has an English degree and can’t find a job with that so she defaults to being a psychic.”
LaCorte said Cole is based in New Jersey who spends her life trying to figure out what is wrong with her four-year-old daughter Stephanie.
“You get the sense that Rena (Cole) needs a lot of attention. Her heart is wanting to get her daughter well, she researches and finds a gastroenterologist in Phoenix,” she said. “It is during this transition that Claire and Rena happen to meet.”
LaCorte’s book tour has already launched beginning in Brooklyn at independent book store The Bookmart Shoppe.
“After which we are on a role basically through the summer. This is so new to me. This is something totally different you are talking about your baby at these readings and signings,” she said. “You are also talking about yourself which I don’t find extremely comfortable to do. I’m just excited about doing this.”
Her New Jersey leg of her book tour will have LaCorte in Princeton on June 27, Manasquan on July 16, Haddonfield on July 24 and in Flemington on July 30.
She said she hopes her new novel provides the entertainment that takes people out of their life for several days.
“Wouldn’t it be the best thing ever if somebody felt about my book the way I have felt about great reads of others books. I hope people take the theme of if something is missing in our lives we rise to the challenge, and the theme of mother, daughter and romantic relationships, which we sort of all struggle with during our lives,” LaCorte said. “To forgive what has gone on in our pasts and make commitments to people who truly love us. I just truly though hope people get a kick out of reading this story.”
For more information about Ellen LaCorte and her book The Perfect Fraud, visit www.ellenlacorte.com.