DARLINGTON – Rachael Wiegel can now call herself a published author after last year when her book, “The Orphan” literally hit the books.
The book is about a young boy, Ronin Dex, who is a troubled kid and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It starts out in Detroit, where after becoming an orphan at a young age, he bounced around foster homes, until his foster parent’s gave him one last chance to clean up his act. He was sent to Waco Texas. Going from a thug in the big city to just another boy in the country came as a shock. His world turns upside down when he meets someone new and fate has other plans for him.
Wiegel, who is not an orphan, gathered much of her inspiration working at her parent’s, Pat and LuAnn Donahoe, business, Annie’s Bar and Grill in Darlington.
“I have worked in customer service for along time. I talk to a lot of different people with very different lives. I have always written things and taken pictures but never channeled it into anything,” Wiegel states.
In June 2016, she graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a Bachelors degree in Photography. During her time in college, she took a creative writing class that she really enjoyed
“Since our classes were only five and half weeks long, we had one major project that we worked on. The assignment was to come up with three different topics for a short story. This is not the first book I wrote but the first one published.”
It took her roughly two and half years to write. Although she notes that there may be some errors, it is her first novel and she has major plans to work out the kinks in the future.
“The second one is already written. I’m just adding more to it; more detail and information.”
For those who haven’t read the book, the ending is a cliffhanger. For those who have read the book, don’t worry the second book is coming out soon.
Her second book, titled “Awakening”, is from the perspective of the girl Ronin meets in the first book named Alice. The book starts out by letting the reader know what happened at the end of the first book, due to the cliffhanger. It then ventures into Alice’s background and her view on how things happened.
Wiegel has many plans on continuing with writing. She has written four books that are not completely finished. She is currently writing two books and has ideas for nine books in total. The second book will hopefully be out by Christmas 2018 into early 2019.
The book is a young adult novel and geared more towards high school age but it can be read by anyone who wants to read an easy page-turner.
If anyone would like to purchase “The Orphan” it is available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or to get a copy from the author herself, you can email rdonahoe07@hotmail.com or call 608-214-7325.