“It’s about self-sacrifice, understanding your place in God’s plan, and it is set in what I wanted to be a very spiritually demanding atmosphere,” said Dickow, who also is the president of Bezalel Books, a local Catholic publishing company.
Dickow said “Miriam” is the second installment in her Catholic women’s fiction trilogy, but its preceding story, “Elizabeth: A Holy Land Pilgrimage” does not need to be read beforehand.
“(It’s) also a standalone book,” said Dickow of “Miriam,” though she admitted that many fans of “Elizabeth” had been “after me to get the sequel out.”
DickowDickow described “Miriam” as a guide to resolve “those questions of being a woman of faith when things aren’t lining up, and what do you do.”
Lest the book be considered mere inspirational fiction, Dickow explained that some Amazon.com reviewers have already described the book as “a Christian 007” and “a thriller with love.” The book takes place in Rome, and it recently received an honorable mention from the 2014 Catholic Press Association in its annual book awards.
Dickow said “Miriam” involves aspects of the supernatural and spiritual realm, plus “upper-room experiences.”
“I think books need to be more engaging,” said Dickow. She said it’s not a story where “everything’s perfect” and the characters life idyllic lives; rather, it is “a more realistic flavor of a woman’s experiences.”
Though Dickow said she personally has not lived through such gripping life-and-death situations as her protagonist, Miriam, she drew deeply from her own faith journey.
“The people I know, the women who are my friends, in my Bible study, we are all living in a time when faith is being questioned,” she said. “It’s a conscious choice to be a Catholic woman today.”
Dickow said she believes Catholics forget how valuable fiction can be to their faith lives, and often rely only on non-fiction to assist their spiritual growth.
“Fiction takes you deeper into some of the truths of the faith that non-fiction doesn’t,” she said. “Non-fiction feeds the intellect and fiction feeds the heart.”
Dickow classifies her books as Christian women’s fiction because though her “first love is to feed Catholic women” she wants to provide for all Christian women, regardless of background.
“My closest friend is Protestant, and Protestant women devour Christian fiction,” Dickow said. “That’s what got me into the idea that Catholic women need this.”
For all women, she said, “there is a thread of sameness that runs through us all. That’s what I try to bring in my books.”
