Welcome to my website. I’m looking forward to sharing with my readers more about myself, my books, and my experiences as an author.

My name is Laura Catherine Rader. I earned a BA in psychology from San Diego State University, where I minored in history and took as many creative writing and art classes as I could. Wanting to be self-supporting, I chose teaching as a career so that I could continue to explore a variety of passions and give back to the world, while also earning a living and a much cherished pension.

When I retired, I returned to my first love, creative writing. I am now a full-time author. My debut novel, Hatfield 1677, is based on true events from King Phillip’s War and my 9th-great-grandparents, set in Hatfield, Massachusetts, in 1677.

My newest novel, to be released September 23, 2026, is The Lark, the true story of a young man named Paul Tietjens, who moved from St. Louis to Chicago in 1901 and became the composer of the first Broadway musical of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

My work-in-progress title is Lady Liberty, based on the life of the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and his model, muse, and wife, Jeanne Emélie Baheux.

When not writing, I enjoy researching my genealogy, from which I draw most of the inspiration for my novels. I also like book clubs, symphony and theater performances, cooking, gardening, playing the piano, and spending time with my family, friends, and pets. Originally from California, I now live twenty miles north of Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Fiction allows both the author and the reader to walk in someone else’s shoes. Historical biographical fiction allows us to bring those people long forgotten back to life. That is why it appeals to me.