Win a $25 GC: The Angel Scroll by Penelope Holt

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Meet Claire Lucas—a talented artist and young widow navigating life in Manhattan after losing her husband, Jake. In my novel, The Angel Scroll, Claire's life takes a mystical turn as she experiences haunting dreams and visions. But instead of letting grief define her, Claire channels her pain into a mysterious masterpiece that transforms her life. Along the way, she learns a few powerful lessons that could benefit us all:

1. Integrity Over Instant Gratification

Claire’s artistic talent thrusts her into the limelight, making her work a hot commodity. Buyers compete to snag her healing masterpiece, Absent a Miracle, offering millions. Tempting, right? But Claire listens to her inner voice and refuses to sell, knowing that caving to the pressure could betray her values.

Lesson: We all face moments where a quick win is tempting. But let’s be real—if it feels wrong in your gut, it probably is. Stand firm in your values, and don’t trade a piece of your integrity for short-term gain.

2. Adventure is Always the Answer

Claire could have stayed in her bubble of grief, but when Richard Markson offers her an unexpected adventure, she jumps at the chance. And guess what? It changes her life for the better.

Lesson: Say yes to travel! It doesn’t have to be extravagant. Adventure, even on a shoestring budget, is good for the soul. It opens new doors, introduces you to fresh perspectives, and shakes up your world in ways you never imagined. Life’s too short to stay still! Especially for writers who thrive on travel that inspires them.

3. Trust Your Gut—Always

Grief-stricken Claire wants to believe in miracles and the Angel Scroll prophecy, but she isn’t naive. She doesn’t blindly accept Father Karl Brandt’s cryptic explanations or let others dictate what she should believe. Instead, she listens to her instincts and takes her time to come to her own conclusions.

Lesson: There’s no substitute for trusting your instincts. Don’t let outside voices drown out your own. It’s okay to question things, work through confusion, and arrive at what feels right to you.

4. Don’t Wait Around for Emotionally Unavailable People

Claire, like many of us, hopes for a fairy tale ending. But she knows Richard has emotional baggage he needs to deal with first. She doesn’t fool herself into thinking she can fix him or that hanging around will magically make things better.

Lesson: Hope isn’t a strategy. You can’t change people, no matter how much you want to. Moving on might just be the wake-up call they need—or it might just be what you need to move forward.

Claire’s journey teaches us about resilience, trusting ourselves, and embracing adventure even when life is punching us in the gut. So, the next time you're tempted to give up because things get tough, to do what’s easy instead of doing what’s right, or to settle instead of holding out for what your heart truly desires, remember Claire’s story—and keep moving forward with courage and integrity.

ONE ANCIENT PROPHECY, TWO HEARTBROKEN LOVERS, AND A WORLDWIDE SCAVENGER HUNT FOR THREE MIRACULOUS PAINTINGS.

After her husband’s death, New York artist Claire Lucas has baffling dreams and waking visions as she channels an enigmatic and healing painting of a holy man in India at the deathbed of a young woman. When widowed antiquarian Richard Markson announces that Claire’s canvas is one-third of three paintings prophesied by the Angel Scroll, a recently discovered Dead Sea parchment, she is pulled into an international scavenger hunt to find the stolen scroll and the paintings it predicts.

As she pursues the paintings with Richard across historic and holy sites in America, Israel, and Europe, Claire encounters a series of remarkable teachers. A Buddhist, a Benedictine monk, and a professor of early goddess worship all provide rich explanations for the artist’s compelling and perplexing psychic experiences — until she assembles the incredible triptych and deciphers its inspirational message for the modern world.

Enjoy an Excerpt

In Benares, India, the sweltering night dragged on. Moonlight slid through the bedroom window and bathed the young, Christlike figure who sat cross-legged on the floor. Only a loincloth covered his slender hips, and his long, coarse hair was coiled in a topknot on his crown. He’d been watching the young woman on the low bed for hours. She was feverish, her breathing shallow, as she squinted at him now through half- closed lids. Her husband held her hand and shot the young man a pleading look. “Please let her live. I’m a rich man. I can pay you. I can help the poor of Benares, the poor of India.”

“To thwart death is not to conquer it,” the young master said, and the husband buried his head in the bed’s embroidered cover. In a single, fluid movement, the holy man rose and stroked his host’s bent head, His long, graceful fingers raking the dark hair, slick with perfumed oil, revealing a channel of pale, moist scalp.

Beyond the bedroom, in the narrow hallway, the master found his three companions propped against a wall and dozing. He tapped the closest with a calloused foot, and one by one the sleeping men awoke. “Is she well now?” the tall one asked, stretching.

“She will be dead come dawn,” his master whispered, as the four men stepped into the dusty and deserted Indian night.

The phone rang. Claire woke up and realized her face was wet. She’d been crying again. She eyed the clock—9 a.m. She cleared her throat, picked up the phone, and tried to sound awake. “Hello?”

“You still sleeping?” Claire held the phone away from her ear to stop Deirdre Vetch’s whine from piercing her brain. “You’re coming to the gallery to talk about the painting, right? We must talk.” Deirdre’s verbal pummeling began.

About the Author:Penelope Holt was born and educated in England and now lives in New York. She is a novelist, playwright, business writer, and marketing executive, whose work has been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, York Arts Center, and New York’s American Folk Theater. In addition to writing fiction, The Angel Scroll, and The Apple, based on the controversial Herman Rosenblat Holocaust romance, Holt is a prolific writer, editor, and co-author of non-fiction, including Business Intelligence at Work A Personal Operating System for Career Success, Singing God’s Work, the story of the Harlem Gospel Choir, and many other works. She is married with two children.

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