Former Oak Parker provides sequel

Arts&Life books

Contemporary Fantasy Former Oak Parker provides spiritualist tale for YA fans.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Novelist Helene Dunbar, a for- amazing place to set a book. mer Oak Parker, experienced an So I did.” enlightening reader response to her Dunbar’s main character is fifth book, Prelude for Lost Souls, released in Dec Hampton, who has lived August as her first fantasy project. Although his whole life in St. Hilaire, all her books have drawn favorable respons- the town Dunbar created. es from fans, this one has garnered more Dec has suffered the loss of requests for a sequel. his parents and wants to leave

Dunbar, who focuses on works for young town before being convinced adults, has set Prelude in a town where the to continue the spiritualist way of life involves communicating with tradition of his family. people who have passed on, and she is glad Enlarging the plot is Dec’s best friend, to report that the sequel is fin- Russ, who had moved to the town from ished and sent to her publisher, Chicago, where he had never fit in because Sourcebooks. he hears ghosts. Dec and Russ get to know “Fantasy readers just have Annie, a young piano prodigy who comes seemed more hungry for new into town after her train breaks down nearby work, and I hope the upcom- and soon learns of linkage to townspeople. Helene ing book will satisfy that,” said “This latest book can be read at various Dunbar Dunbar, who has qualified the levels,” Dunbar said. “If you’re somebody “fantasy” label by describing the book as who has experienced grief or loss, there can “contemporary fantasy” while also finding it be a much deeper read, which unfortunately draws “paranormal” and “magical realism” is appropriate in these times.” designations. Dunbar, who was a teenager when she lost

“These readers seem to finish books very her own mother, has written about young quickly, and I was able to provide some early people coping with loss throughout her buyers with [souvenir] cards designed to earlier books. She has done research on the represent my characters. That was really a subject to provide insight into coping mechbucket list item for me. You don’t really do anisms. that with contemporary stories [in general].” “Writing about teens is a lot about figur-

The idea for Prelude for Lost Souls came ing out what they want their future to look while the author was watching the television like,” explains Dunbar, who lives in Nashville program Mysteries at the Museum. with her husband and their 11-year-old

“They did a segment based on Lily Dale, daughter. N.Y., which is the oldest spiritualist community in the United States,” Dunbar explained. MICHIGAN ROOTS “Lily Dale is a gated community that closes Dunbar, who attended Oak Park High its gates through most of the year but opens School while being active in the synagogue them in the summer. community that became Congregation Beth

“People go there to contact deceased Ahm, earned her bachelor’s degree from relatives or loved ones. Everyone in town Kalamazoo College, where she majored in is a medium, and I thought it would be an English with a theater concentration.

Before entering the world of fiction at the encouragement of a college roommate, she did freelance writing that took her to New York and Ireland. Her assignments have reached from drama criticism to an article about a woman imprisoned for killing her children. She also has done marketing for Women of Reform Judaism.

The author’s current day job, moved from office to home because of the pandemic, has her responsible for internal communications developed for a health care company.

Before the pandemic shutdown activities, Dunbar was planning a huge 80th birthday party for her dad, Harold Baker, who lives in Novi and works at Adat Shalom Synagogue. Instead, she traveled to Michigan for a small celebration.

Dunbar hopes that she soon will have reason to celebrate the transition of her fourth book, We Are Lost and Found, into a film. About the AIDS epidemic and with a Jewish character, the novel has been optioned by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s production company, Ill Kippers. Fans of Game of Thrones know Coster-Waldau as the character Jaime Lannister.

“Since I started having books published, I’m always changing gears,” Dunbar said. “I move among drafting something, revising something else and marketing.”