This interview was recently published in the Lehigh Valley Press. Used by permission.

The Power Of Love And The Nature Of Belief

Theresa O'Brien

Nearly 20 years ago, a pharmaceutical researcher and novelist was in a horrific accident. He spent weeks in intensive care and inpatient rehab, followed by several months in outpatient rehab. As he worked to regain his ability to move the thoughts in his brain to orally expressed ideas, he also remembered things about his first weeks of inpatient treatment, and he wrote.

What he remembered, what he wrote, and his musings on the nature of belief and the power of love became the book “Little Bit of Faith,” which he published under the same pseudonym, Saverio Monachino, as his previous works of fiction and nonfiction. Some of his fictional characters have personalities based on people in his real life, and to protect their privacy, he does not use his real name in his literary professional life.

The book is a complex tale in which Dr. Arthur McAiden gives his therapist, Dr. Emily Selwood, a written account of his accident and various intersecting narratives around it. Selwood reads the account and uses it to determine that McAiden has recovered cognitively, and can be discharged from therapy. It is only after she meets characters from McAiden’s account whom she assumed were fictional that she begins to wonder what is real, and how we can tell.

Part of what the book is about, according to Monachino, is, “When do you come out of a coma? And when you’re still comatose, does your mind intertwine the things you hear with memories percolating inside your head?” In the book, McAiden’s traumatically injured brain takes sensory inputs and weaves them into a narrative about various other things, including the Arthurian legend and the history of the kings of Great Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Another aspect of the book is a consideration of religious fanaticism. McAiden – like Monachino a pharmaceutical researcher – is interested in the history of the British Isles, and believes he has evidence that British recorded history has been manipulated to suit the preferences of a ruling religious group. “Religious fanaticism — it’s historic,” Monachino says. “It has always been a root cause of hatred.” Fanatical Muslim characters in the novel who listen to a recording of McAiden discussing medieval religious controversies think he is talking about their own religious struggles, underscoring Monachino’s point that “the concept of ‘You have to believe it our way, only our way’ is not right,” regardless of which group is the one with the absolutist worldview.

Finally, the book is about the power of love and the nature of divinity. In the book, McAiden expresses the view that the trinitarian view of God includes intellect, empathy and a third characteristic that “holds it all together,” which Christians call the Holy Spirit (or the Holy Ghost). “This force,” McAiden says, “is composed essentially of love.”

Monachino credits love with helping him find the way back from his coma. His wife chose to be with him every day that he was in inpatient rehab, and people near and far prayed for him. He relates an account of meeting a woman who did not previously know him, but who had been praying for him as part of a church group. “Maybe that outpouring of love is what you feel when you are alone at night, like gentle waves lapping along the shoreline,” he says.

“My wife held vigil in the trauma center for five days,” he says, noting that his children were also there for him, even when they couldn’t figure out a concrete way to help him.

“They were there for me,” he asserts. “That is an incredible gift to have. Their gift of love is what helps the healing process; it is what helps you come back …

Note: Saverio Monachino will be doing a reading and signing event at the Doylestown Bookshop Saturday, Aug. 31, from 1 to 3 p.m.

“Little Bit of Faith” is one part espionage thriller, one part historical fiction, one part medical thriller, and one part philosophical inquiry. A leitmotif of the Arthurian legend runs throughout the book.

[Wilmington, NC, May 7, 2024] Saverio Monachino’s traumatic brain injury left him in a coma. It took a while but, when he made it back to a conscious state, he had a story to tell. This story became the basis for his new psychological fiction novel, "Little Bit of Faith."

The book is a masterful work of fiction that is unlike any medical thriller available today. Through skillful storytelling and rich character development, the book offers a captivating and often humorous exploration of the creativity of the human mind and the interconnectedness of existence. The book leaves readers pondering the nature of true faith, the boundaries of one’s perception, the foundations of belief, family love, religious fanaticism, and the meaning of existence, long after the final page is turned. There is a message. It is one word, four letters.

Dr. Selwood (a neuropsychologist) had a real doozy of a case assigned to her: Dr. Arthur McAiden. When McAiden first began his outpatient stint at the Kessler Institute, he had trouble stringing cognitive sentences together. Selwood suggested he write his thoughts down, and so he did. At first, he wrote of the accident itself, which had her wondering how, if he was comatose, he knew what he did. Then his story moved on and intertwined his recovery process with what she believed to be a work of fiction. If he was trying to have fun at her expense, she did not know. Either way, it didn't matter, but when he moved on and began describing his take on the triune others have used to describe his faith, she wanted to file this away in the circular trash can beside her desk. Then one of his characters came to life and paid her a visit. While her patient had struggled to re-enter the three-dimensional space those living on earth call home, Dr. Selwood, in turn, now struggled to accept the continuum of life Arthur had presented to her.

"I wrote this book," Monachino stated, "because, as my ability to exist in the three-dimensional space we live in returned, memories of what I experienced began to fade. The story is fiction, the underlying revelations, I hope, are closer to reality."

Monachino is also the author of a murder mystery titled "By Any Means." Leaking top-secret information to the Press happens all the time. Just ask those holding office in Washington D.C. Up north in Montreal, Inspector Gervais has experienced a perfect storm of this art. Gervais’s story started on a typical summer night with a slightly overweight grocer sitting on the roof reciting poetry, dressed from head to toe in leather, and watching a man in the alley commit murder … with a hard salami. His life literally falls into the hands of the good Inspector, and that’s when the fun begins. “What,” Inspector Gervais wants to know, “do an overweight grocer, Batman, tax attorneys, a dysfunctional Italian family, city politics, and an esoteric secret society that may or may not be the remnants of the Knights Templar have in common?” Not much, but this is all he has to go on as he races to solve a gruesome murder By Any Means. Montreal in the summertime can be fun; murder can be funnier.