Chatham Author's Musical Creation Becomes Debut Novel

CHATHAM, NJ — Before COVID, Allyson Hernandez had what she called a “midlife creative crisis,” when two days before she turned 40, her grandmother Marie passed away at 96.

“Something happens when you turn 40,” she wrote in introducing her novel and explained in the video below about “Ballad of Dreams: A Novel with Music,” published by New Degree Press.

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What she calls her "Book Baby," is a story birthed of “friendship, dreams, love, loss, and everything in between.”

“You start to question everything in your life, such as your values, goals, accomplishments, choices, hopes and dreams,” she continued in her book's introduction and talked about in her video. “There was something about turning 40 and my grandma passing that lit a huge creative fire in me.”

Pre-pandemic, the book was first written as a musical, Hernandez said, but with musical theater on a hiatus because of COVID, she created the book with lyrics from the original musical, entwined into the novel like a “musical libretto.”

“She wrote Ballad of Dreams to explore who her grandmother was and what she wanted before she became a mother, and, in the process, found the same answers for herself,” a news release about it explained.

“As a mother of 13 children, she spent so much of her life caring for others, and I was motivated to explore her story before motherhood,” Hernandez said about her grandmother. “When imagining my dream role, I pictured my grandmother and knew I had to write it.”

“Audrey and Rose are cousins and best friends in 1940s New York City whose trajectories, choices, sacrifices, and life experiences are drastically different, but their friendship remains constant,” is a teaser about the book. “What greater love story is there than the one between two friends? They each journey in discovering their own identities and independence as women in a time where society tried to define that for them. Ballad of Dreams combines the richness and drama of musical theater with historical fiction.”

Hernandez, who is also a performer, composer, executive coach and mother, has appeared at the Apollo Theater and toured with the Gospel musical, “If This Hat Could Talk.”She has a BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University, is a member of Actors Equity Association and recorded her debut EP, “Soul Stories.” On weekends, she’s regularly singing at her church or at her sons' soccer games.

Find out more about her and her book at www.BalladOfDreams.com.

To follow her on Instagram, visit @AllysonHernandez_extra

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.