{"id":5839,"date":"2013-07-17T23:10:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T03:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/?p=5839"},"modified":"2026-02-28T10:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T15:41:27","slug":"a-love-apart-no-ordinary-love-story-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/a-love-apart-no-ordinary-love-story-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Love Apart: No Ordinary Love Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_block_column et_pb_column_empty et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_1 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_divider_0 et_pb_divider_hidden et_pb_space et_pb_divider_position_top et_pb_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_divider_internal\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>A Love Apart: No Ordinary Love Story<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_section_1 et_pb_section et_pb_fullwidth_section et_section_regular et_block_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_fullwidth_menu_0 et_pb_fullwidth_menu et_pb_fullwidth_menu--without-logo et_pb_fullwidth_menu--style-left_aligned et_dropdown_animation_fade et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_right et_pb_text_align_right-tablet et_pb_text_align_right-phone et_pb_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_menu__wrap\"><div class=\"et_pb_menu__menu\"><nav class=\"et-menu-nav fullwidth-menu-nav\"><ul id=\"menu-rr-divi\" class=\"et-menu fullwidth-menu nav downwards\"><li id=\"menu-item-2319\" class=\"et_pb_menu_page_id-home menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-home menu-item-2319\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/\">Home<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-2425\" class=\"et_pb_menu_page_id-75 menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-2425\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/about-rachelle-rogers\/\">About<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-5583\" class=\"et_pb_menu_page_id-5575 menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-5583\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/books\/\">Books<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-2427\" class=\"et_pb_menu_page_id-1088 menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-2427\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/poetry-3\/\">Poetry<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-222947\" class=\"et_pb_menu_page_id-46905 menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-222947\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/blog-luminations\/\">Blog<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-2586\" class=\"et_pb_menu_page_id-2576 menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-2586\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/contact\/\">Contact<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/nav><\/div><div class=\"et_mobile_nav_menu\"><div class=\"mobile_nav closed\"><span class=\"mobile_menu_bar\"><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_section_2 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_1 et_pb_row et_pb_gutters3 et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_2 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_3 et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_1 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>20<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_divider_1 et_pb_divider et_pb_space et_pb_divider_position_top et_pb_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_divider_internal\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_2 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>NOVEMBER 2013<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_3 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>Writing<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_image_0 et_pb_image et_animated et_pb_module et_block_module\"><span class=\"et_pb_image_wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-content\/uploads\/ALA-for-RR-500-optimized.jpg\" width=\"313\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-content\/uploads\/ALA-for-RR-500-optimized.jpg 313w, https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-content\/uploads\/ALA-for-RR-500-optimized-188x300.jpg 188w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 313px) 100vw, 313px\" class=\"wp-image-2971\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_3 et_pb_column et_pb_column_2_3 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_4 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p><i>A Love Apart<\/i> is a novel close to my heart. In its various incarnations, it took me ten years to write. I was trying to tell a story based on a deep soul connection I\u2019d recognized decades ago with someone I\u2019d known through many lifetimes. Yet,\u00a0I couldn\u2019t find a way to fictionalize it. Finally, after a certain \u201cliterary intervention,\u201d things with the novel began to come together.<\/p>\n<p>I was in the library, on a strange impulse browsing the biography aisle (not my usual reading fare), when a certain book seemed about to drop off the shelf above my head. I reached for the volume. It was <i>The Letters of Abelard and Heloise,<\/i>\u00a0the tragic 12th century French lovers, correspondence that has survived over 800 years. I\u2019d vaguely recalled their names, probably from a French literature class, but at the time, I knew virtually nothing about their story. I checked out the book.<\/p>\n<p>I could not have anticipated the intensity of feeling I experienced as I read <i>The Letters<\/i>\u2014sadness, anger, the pain of unimaginable cruelty, frustration with the religious rigidity of the time in which they were written. But also, at least on Heloise\u2019s part, the expression of a depth of passion few ever experience, a passion I felt I knew intimately. By the end, I found myself dissolved in tears, hurling the book across the room. Something was going on here. Something I would not come to understand until much later. Suddenly, I knew I had to find a way to resolve, if only upon a page, what history had left tragically unresolved. I now had the canvas upon which to design a fiction that could hold the emotional truth of what both I and Heloise had experienced. I would create from the heartbreak, a thing of peace and beauty and transcendence.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_2 et_pb_row et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_4 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_divider_2 et_pb_divider et_pb_space et_pb_divider_position_top et_pb_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_divider_internal\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_5 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module et_pb_text_align_center preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\">Suddenly, I knew I had to find a way to resolve, if only upon a page, what history had left tragically unresolved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_divider_3 et_pb_divider et_pb_space et_pb_divider_position_top et_pb_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_divider_internal\"><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_3 et_pb_row et_pb_gutters3 et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_5 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_6 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>I began with questions: What would happen if Heloise and Abelard found their way back to each other today? Who might they be? What might they remember? What might be unresolved within them and between them? How might they choose to do it differently?<\/p>\n<p>And it evolved. From those inner creative realms, Lily and Julian made themselves, and their tale known to me. <i>A Love Apart<\/i> would tell the story of Lily, a poet, and Julian, a painter who find themselves in no ordinary love affair. It would take place in Asheville, NC.<\/p>\n<p>Lily has been dreaming a young nun whose longing for a beautiful monk has filled her with inconsolable grief. Meanwhile, Julian, who moved to Asheville after the death of his partner Sam, feels compelled to paint crucifixes, cathedral spires, and a monk with the look of terror in his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Lily and Julian are inevitably drawn to each another, and their ensuing relationship weaves a timeless tapestry that both unravels the mystery of a tragic past and challenges them to understand a present passion filled with impossibility. They have help along the way. From intimate friends, from their art, from the wisdom of Lovina, an eccentric, endearing psychic who uses M&amp;M\u2019s to talk to spirits, and from an extraordinary vision that changes everything.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_6 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_image_1 et_pb_image et_pb_module et_block_module\"><span class=\"et_pb_image_wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/A-Love-Apart-RR-blog-post-web-.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/A-Love-Apart-RR-blog-post-web-.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" class=\"wp-image-5679\" alt=\"Les Amours painting Heloise and Abelard\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_4 et_pb_row et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_7 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_3 et_block_column et_pb_column_empty et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_8 et_pb_column et_pb_column_2_3 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_7 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--group--divi-text--divi-font-header--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>If you\u2019re a reader who appreciates lyrical writing, quirky characters, an engaging, expansive, and unusual contemporary love story with a little mystery, a little eloquent history, and the notion of a passion that transcends time, you might enjoy <i>A Love Apart<\/i>. You don\u2019t need to know anything about Heloise and Abelard. Their story will unfold for you as it unfolds for Lily, which includes reading excerpts from the original letters.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_5 et_pb_row et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_9 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_post_nav_0 et_pb_posts_nav nav-single et_pb_module et_block_module\"><span class=\"nav-previous\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/how-my-mother-sent-me-to-the-mountain\/\" rel=\"prev\" class=\"\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">&larr; <\/span><span class=\"nav-label\">How My Mother Sent Me To The Mountain<\/span><\/a><\/span><span class=\"nav-next\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/full-moon-story\/\" rel=\"next\" class=\"\"><span class=\"nav-label\">Full Moon Story<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\"> &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_6 et_pb_row et_block_row et_animated\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_10 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_signup_0 et_pb_signup et_pb_newsletter et_pb_subscribe et_pb_bg_layout_dark et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_newsletter_description\"><h2 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">KEEP UP WITH MY POSTS<\/h2><div class=\"et_pb_newsletter_description_content\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span>Subscribers receive a free PDF of my published memoir <\/span><em><span><br \/><\/span><\/em><span><\/span><span style=\"color: #57006d;\"><em>Rare Atmosphere: An Extraordinary Inter-dimensional Affair of the Heart<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_newsletter_form\"><form method=\"post\" class=\"\"><div class=\"et_pb_newsletter_result et_pb_newsletter_error\"><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_newsletter_result et_pb_newsletter_success\"><h2>Thank you for subscribing. Your gift is on the way.<\/h2><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_newsletter_fields et_flex_module\" style=\"--flex-direction: row;\"><p class=\"et_pb_newsletter_field et_pb_contact_field_half et_pb_contact_field_half_tablet et_pb_contact_field_half_phone\"><label class=\"et_pb_contact_form_label\" for=\"et_pb_signup_firstname\" style=\"display: none;\">Name<\/label><input class=\"input\" id=\"et_pb_signup_firstname\" type=\"text\" placeholder=\"Name\" name=\"et_pb_signup_firstname\" \/><\/p><p class=\"et_pb_newsletter_field et_pb_contact_field_half et_pb_contact_field_half_tablet et_pb_contact_field_half_phone\"><label class=\"et_pb_contact_form_label\" for=\"et_pb_signup_email\" style=\"display: none;\">Email<\/label><input class=\"input\" id=\"et_pb_signup_email\" type=\"text\" placeholder=\"Email\" name=\"et_pb_signup_email\" \/><\/p><p class=\"et_pb_newsletter_button_wrap\"><a class=\"et_pb_button et_pb_newsletter_button\" href=\"#\" data-icon=\"E\"><span class=\"et_subscribe_loader\"><\/span><span class=\"et_pb_newsletter_button_text\">SUBSCRIBE<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"et_pb_signup_provider\" value=\"mailerlite\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"et_pb_signup_list_id\" value=\"\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"et_pb_signup_account_name\" value=\"123665865706047230\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"et_pb_signup_ip_address\" value=\"true\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"et_pb_signup_checksum\" value=\"a718c6fd143ae8ec0961712f048169aa\" \/><\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Love Apart is a novel close to my heart. In its various incarnations, it took me ten years to write. I was trying to tell a story based on a deep soul connection I\u2019d recognized decades ago with someone I\u2019d known through many lifetimes. Yet, I couldn\u2019t find a way to fictionalize it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[33,38,36,34,39],"class_list":["post-5839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-a-love-apart","tag-contemporary-fiction","tag-heloise-and-abelard","tag-literary-fiction","tag-rachelle-rogers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5839"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46885,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions\/46885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellerogers.com\/dev1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}