The Dream Collector Book I: Sabrine and Sigmund Freud follows a young woman working in a women’s asylum who meets Sigmund Freud, and together they explore mental health and the world of 19th century Paris. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

In 1886 Freud had been awarded a grant to study with famed hypnotist Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Asylum for women. Vincent van Gogh came to Paris to study the new art emerging, Impressionism. Here were two iconic figures who found themselves, their path, their calling, during that one special year. Annus Mirabilis. I only needed a protagonist with an interest in mental health and art to entwine their stories. Julie Forette, a self-educated woman, became my storyteller.

With so many famous people from history in your novel, what was your writing process to ensure you captured the essence of these characters?

Research, extensive research on each historical character, including letters, journals, anything which revealed their experiences, thoughts, and tone. And maintaining individual files, with sections like “His words/Her Tone’ so that when dialogue occurred in the story, I had a go-to resource, to capture their individualistic tone.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

I’m so glad you used the plural, themes. My overarching theme was the empowerment of art, how a painting, book, poem can enable us to resonate with our own identity. How art can touch our hearts, raise our consciousness, and–––to risk addressing the spiritually inclined–––uplift our souls.

But a subsidiary theme emerged when learning that famed author Émile Zola, in 1886, betrayed his childhood friend Paul Cezanne by writing a roman à clef. In the novel, a failed artist, confronting his mediocrity, commits suicide. All of Paris knew that Zola was describing Cezanne. When Cezanne read the novel, entitled ‘Masterpiece’, he was heart-broken and never spoke to Zola again. I wanted to explore the tragedy of how someone you trust, you love, betrays you. And whether you can overcome the pain and trauma of betrayal. Can you recover? If so, how? So the theme of betrayal and abandonment becomes mirrored in my major characters, especially the protagonist Julie Forette and the Salpêtrière hysteric, Sabrine Weiss.

When will book 2 be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?

Publication for Book II “Sabrine & Vincent van Gogh’ is scheduled for April 2024. We will follow Sabrine and Julie’s continued journey toward self-realization as they immerse themselves into the art milieu of late 19th century Paris. Under the watchful eye of Sigmund Freud, Julie and Sabrine become intimately involved with the major luminaries of the period, especially the van brothers, Theo and Vincent.