Divine Appointments

About the Book

“When I was little I used to believe that the world was a just and semi-good place. And then I grew up.” Meet Victoria, the street addict, the main character of this powerful, page-turning, humanistic fiction novel. Born in a dank gray cell at Riker’s Island Correctional Facility to a pathetic, feisty heroin addict, and doomed to a chaotic childhood filled with painful misfortune and deprivation, Victoria invites her readers into her life at the age of twenty-eight to travel with her as she struggles through her recovery process under the wise and watchful eyes of her NA sponsor. Propelled by a burning desire to stay clean and off of drugs after she completes a two-year sentence in a New York State Correctional Facility, untrusting and unbelieving Victoria hangs on to her sponsor’s every word and follows her suggestions about writing her own personal autobiography as a way of gaining meaning and insight into her life. Victoria, the agnostic who believes in nothing but the power and strength of Victoria, becomes stuck after working the first of NA’s Twelve Steps, and is then prodded to embark on a painfully truthful human journey through the back roads of a life that she would have much preferred to forget. The Spirit of Truth shines its light in every compelling chapter of this unforgettable fiction novel. Whether in the form of a lesson, a human angel, or an actual miracle, its essence is woven through the crude tapestry of Victoria’s memories and present day experiences. Its bright rays illuminate each of the complex characters that enter Victoria’s life for reasons that are usually unclear, but undeniably predestined. Yet, it is not until the closing chapters, that Victoria recognizes and accepts its omnipresence. And, in doing so, keeps one of her most important divine appointments. Divine Appointments is a “must read.” It is a must read for anyone who has ever had even the slightest inclination or desire to learn about the disease of addictions. It’s a must read for any individual who has ever had a relative, close friend, or loved one who suffered from this disease. It is also a must read for everybody who enjoys a dramatic and action-packed, but yet meaningful book of high literary quality that masters the art of dovetailing humor with the most tragic and bleak moments of the human experience. Finally, Divine Appointments is a must read for anyone who has ever suffered in the past, or is presently suffering, and mistakenly believes that they stand hopeless and alone with their struggles. Divine Appointments is a must read for all. Divine Appointments is like no other story of its kind. Divine Appointments traces one addict’s recovery process in a powerfully vivid and candid fashion. It also brings “the family disease” concept to a true-to-life form as it slowly and carefully peels back all of the layers that characterize the relationship between Victoria and her chemically dependent mother. It teaches us that those same relationships that once made us weak have the power to make us stronger than we ever imagined. Unlike most other books of its nature, Divine Appointments offers the reader some disheartening, but eye-opening realistic facts about the various social service agencies that are designed to help those who are in need. Probably, the most unique feature of Divine Appointments is that it speaks to the reader’s heart, causing each one of us at different times during its course to look within and ponder.

About the Author

Dr. Susan Maria Lotto, a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Alcohol & Substance Abuse Counselor, who works full-time in an inner city high school as well as consults part-time at six mental health facilities, clinically specializes in adolescent delinquent populations, substance abusers, the families of substance abusers, and psychological assessment. Dr. Lotto has always resided in New York City, briefly taking up residence in the South Bronx, with the majority of her life spent in the Canarsie/East New York section of Brooklyn. It is from these neighborhoods that many of the ideas for her novel Divine Appointments were created. It is because of these personal experiences “on the streets,” her current and past relationships, professional knowledge of addictions and the mental health field, and her own spiritual understanding that propelled Dr. Lotto to write it all down embodied in the lives of her story’s characters. Dr. Lotto continues to work an obscene number of jobs while residing in her home in Brooklyn, New York. Several feline strays have found solace in her home throughout the years as well. Her home away from home is a “casita” in a small oceanfront town in the Dominican Republic. It is in this serene world in which her ideas for “Divine Appointments” were originally conceived.