Searching for Angels

What happens when a woman who was never searching for answers suddenly begins asking questions?

Gail Robin Raes never considered herself particularly religious. Spiritual? Perhaps. She believed in God. She prayed. She believed in trying to be a good person. But angels? That was something other people talked about—especially her sister Wendy.

Years ago, when Wendy tried to share her own spiritual awakening, Gail listened but finally admitted the truth: “I’m not searching.” Maybe she simply wasn’t ready.

Then, decades later, a chance seating arrangement at a dinner introduced Gail to author Debra Schildhouse, a woman who openly talks about communicating with Archangels. One conversation led to an audiobook. The audiobook led to questions. And the questions led Gail somewhere she never expected—back through her own life.

Back to prayers that seemed to be answered. Coincidences with remarkably good timing. Childhood experiences she still can’t explain. Loss, love, laughter, and memories of a sister who may have understood something Gail wasn’t ready to hear. And, yes, even to Mother Mary’s uncanny ability to find a parking space.

Now Gail finds herself wondering whether someday she’ll open the front door and simply say, “Welcome.” Will anything happen? Will she hear an answer? Will talking to an Angel feel any different from talking to God through prayer? Or will absolutely nothing happen at all?

She doesn’t know. And neither does the reader—because Searching for Angels isn’t a story written after Gail discovered the answers. She’s writing it while she’s living the questions.

Funny, deeply personal, sometimes painful, and ultimately filled with possibility, Searching for Angels follows one woman’s journey from “I’m not searching.” to “Maybe I’m ready.”—and whatever comes next.