‘A dream come true’
UWM Engli
Reeling after the disappearance of her brother and hurting from her parents’ divorce, Andrea is looking for an escape from her troubles. She finds it in a mysterious circus called “Reverie,” a show featuring tents that house actual dreams – step into this one to leap into flight; choose this tent for a pirate treasure hunt; experience a good scare at this tent of bad dreams. But, when Andrea visits a particular tent that showcases the recurring nightmare that plagued her brother before his disappearance, she realizes that this circus may not be the escape she thought it was. It could be a trap – perhaps one in which her brother is still caught. What happens next? You’ll have to read until the end. “The book has a quick pace, something that will hopefully make it hard to put down,” author Lorelei Savaryn promised. “It’s an immersive magical world that has mystery and adventure and a bit of scariness in it, but hopefully the kind that’s fun.” “The Circus of Stolen Dreams” is Savaryn’s debut novel, which was released on Sept. 1. She still can’t quite believe it. “I remember looking at my phone and seeing the email saying I had a book deal. I was in my backyard thinking, oh my gosh,” Savaryn recalled. “I don’t know that I fully understand the scope of it, but I know that my dream has come true.” UWM aided a lifelong dream Savaryn has always wanted to be a writer. When it came time to finish up her college degree, she chose to major in English with a concentration in creative writing at UWM. Unfortunately, said Savaryn, she was probably one of the worst writers in Professor Valerie Laken’s writing workshop classes. “Valerie Laken could have written me off as a lost cause pretty quickly. I had no idea what I was doing. But she didn’t; she gave me thoughtful critique and feedback and took me seriously, even though I was clearly a beginner,” Savaryn said. “Between the first and second semester, I was able to see my growth in the stories I was writing. That helped me realize that I could learn to be a good writer.” 4 • IN FOCUS • September, 2020
After graduating in 2009 and spending a year in the private sector, Savaryn was accepted to the Urban Education Fellows Program, which allowed her to teach at an underserved school in Milwaukee while she simultaneously worked toward her Master’s in education. At home, she also worked to instill a love of reading in her own children. In fact, the idea for “The Circus of Stolen Dreams” grew out of a fateful conversation with her then 6-year-old daughter. “My daughter and I were talking once about, what if a girl had a dream and she woke up from the dream and it followed her home? I thought, that’s a really interesting concept.”
