Dr. Julien Ayotte, author, fiction and historical fiction
Novels
Flower of Heaven
Dangerous Bloodlines (Sequel to Flower of Heaven)
A Life Before
Disappearance
Code Name Lily
Diamond and Pearls
The Treasure
Spitting Images
One could certainly assume, at the end of a very successful career in both the corporate and legal worlds, that retirement would be a welcome transition from the daily workforce routine. This was not the case for Dr. Julien Ayotte.
In 2002, at the age of 60, after over a forty-year career in business, he began a new venture in fiction writing. Having found a dozen chapters of an old manuscript he had started to write in 1987, his children encouraged him to finish the debut book, Flower of Heaven. Although leaning more toward playing golf and tennis during retirement, he took their encouragement to heart and began a ten-year journey to get it done. What started off as total satisfaction once the novel was completed and published has now turned into a passion for writing. Dr. Ayotte has published seven novels in eight years, and all of them are award-winners and best-sellers.
Over that time, Ayotte’s novels have amassed twelve national awards. These include:
Flower of Heaven Indie Book of the Day, March 2013
2013 New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention
2014 New England Book Festival, Honorable Mention
2014 Eric Hoffer Book Award, Finalist
Dangerous Bloodlines 2014 New England Book Festival, Finalist
2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award, Finalist
Indie Book of the Day, March 2015
A Life Before 2016 Book Life Prize, Publishers Weekly
Disappearance 2018 Dorry Award, Best Fiction Book of the Year
2019 American Fiction Award, Finalist
Code Name Lily 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Award, Finalist
Diamond and Pearls 2020 Top Shelf Book Award, Finalist
Jon Land, a USA Today best-selling fiction author of over forty books, calls Julien Ayotte’s writing comparable to Harlan Coben and David Baldacci on the thriller scale. And Paul Caranci, best-selling author of Wired and Scoundrel, says “Without doubt, Julien Ayotte is the best writer of mystery thriller novels in Rhode Island. A signed Ayotte novel will make a great gift for your favorite reader.”
Stephen Watson, CEO, The National World War II Museum, New Orleans, had this to say about Ayotte’s Code Name Lily: “Works of historical fiction like yours are a great way to introduce and encourage readers to learn more about real-life events the novels have inspired. The Comet Line’s and Micheline’s work helping hundreds of Allied servicemen escape is a truly spectacular WWII account. Countless more people will learn of her bravery through your character, Lily.”
Dr. Ayotte was the featured speaker on July 20, 2021, at the Wright Museum of WWII in Wolfeboro, NH. He previously was the keynote speaker at the forty-fifth reunion of the Air Force Escape and Evasion Society in 2019 in Niagara Falls.
Julien Ayotte, age 81, was born in 1941 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He graduated from Mount St. Charles Academy in 1959. In 1963, he received a B.S. degree from the University of Rhode Island, followed by an M.B.A. in 1969, a Harvard Business School Management Development Program in 1978, and a PhD from Columbia Pacific University in 1992.
In his forty-year career, Julien served as the Assistant Corporate Treasurer and Assistant Corporate Controller at Textron Inc. for eleven years, following nine years as a high school teacher in Bellingham, Massachusetts. He then served as a financial and investment consultant until becoming the executive director for a prominent Providence law firm, Partridge, Snow & Hahn in 1988-1989, followed by twelve years in a similar position for a much larger prestigious Worcester law firm, Mirick O’Connell, where he ended his career in 2002. During this fourteen-year period, Ayotte also was an adjunct professor of finance and investments in the MBA programs at five universities in the Rhode Island and Massachusetts area.
In 2001, Julien co-authored a financial planning book with Dr. Gerhard Harms entitled Wealth Building for Professionals. Flower of Heaven was published in 2012, followed by the sequel, Dangerous Bloodlines, in 2014, A Life Before in 2016, Disappearance in 2017, Code Name Lily in 2018, and Diamond and Pearls in early 2020, The Treasure, in late 2020. His latest release, Spitting Images, was published in December 2022.
Julien is an avid golfer and tennis player, and a 2016 inductee into the Mt. St. Charles Academy Athletic Hall of Fame. He also serves as a Trustee, Extra Ordinary Minister, Chair of the Parish Finance Council, and an altar server at St. Joseph’s Church in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He continues to speak before various book clubs, WWII museums, and libraries, and is still on track to write ten novels in ten years.
He resides with his wife of fifty-nine years, Pauline, in Lincoln, Rhode Island, and they are the parents of three grown children.
In summary, Dr. Julien Ayotte has written eight very successful novels. Literary talent comes at different ages for different people. For Julien, he displays the belief that it is never too late to find what has laid dormant for many years, like waking a sleeping tiger.
Readers can learn a great deal more about Julien Ayotte and his works from his website, www.julienayotte.com.
Sincerely,
Julien Ayotte, PhD
107 Old River Road, Unit 88
Lincoln, RI 02865
