Peoria Heights, IL, March 22, 2024 — Katie Kelley, who holds a BA in criminal justice and has spent the better part of two decades working in behavioral health, has completed her new book, “Praying Angels: Within the Tunnels of Dread”: a powerful story based on true events that finds a man who, after years of trials that have tested his faith over and over again, finds help in a young writer who helps him document his thoughts and reflections on the difficult situation he now currently faces.

Author Katie Kelley first began her writing journey in the early nineties, and the body of her freelanced social commentary, published between 1992 and 2011, is now archived in the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois. In 2017 she independently published a small book of poetry called “The View from the Cabin.” The author truly believes that in each individual’s story, one can hear echoes of their own life, and that there is a natural connectivity and a human evolution that takes place within that connection.

“This compelling novella, ‘Praying Angels,’ is full of artful deceptions, unforeseen connections, and heartbreaking abdications,” writes Kelley. “This is literary fiction inspired by true events. The troubled waters of an Irish Catholic childhood propel protagonist, Joseph Dempsey, into a life of successful abundance, but did it prepare him for a severely challenging adult life?

“A sorely taxed Joseph Dempsey becomes a man on a mission. While Joseph struggles not to lose faith in everything he has ever believed in, he wrestles with unfamiliar frustration, unintended consequences, and an uncertain future. Joe finds himself placed in a position of having to trust a health-care system that, for him, had proven itself untrustworthy years before. Seeking vengeance through transparency and against the wishes of his family, an angry Joseph enlists the aid of an unknown novice writer, Elizabeth Allen, to ensure his thoughts are properly chronicled.

“Elizabeth finds herself in awe of Joseph’s faith and candor, and a rather unlikely connection between the would-be storyteller and the writer is formed. As Joe faces an unwarranted and unpleasant demise, she finds the previously silenced Joseph willing to stand virtually naked and endure a self-imposed emotional cleansing while he attempts to excavate his demons. That’s only if time or his family should allow.”