Tiegerman said her fascination with past lives began in her teenage years, when she experienced viviDr. Ellenmorris Tiegerman, founder of The Tiegerman School, is a renowned expert in child language and communication development and the author of several books on the subject.
After decades in academia and clinical research, she expanded into fiction in 2024 with her debut novel, “Past Lives Denied,” and is now preparing to release her second psychological thriller, “God Denied,” on Amazon in March 2026.
“God Denied” follows a university professor confronting questions of free speech, ethics, and truth as tensions escalate on campus, culminating in the murder of a controversial commentator on the eve of his appearance.
“The political upheaval is a central part of the book in terms of understanding what student life is all about,” Tiegerman said.
She began writing the novel in 2024 amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.
“It’s important to look at campus life, because students are going to be there for four years, and it’s very challenging across the U.S. today,” she added.
Her academic background informed much of the story. Set on a university campus, it draws from her more than two decades teaching communication disorders at Adelphi University.
“Most people don’t know what professors do beyond teaching or how complicated it is to get tenure and review others. It’s a very complex process,” she said.
The novel addresses contemporary social issues, including student protests and free speech, and explores ethical dilemmas faced by faculty and students.
Tiegerman’s professional experience on campus also influenced how she developed the novel’s characters. She said her interactions with students and colleagues helped shape the narrative and provide insight into the pressures and responsibilities of university life.
“You have to consider everything—from teaching and mentoring to reviewing others and navigating administrative decisions,” she explained.
Founded in 1985 as the School for Language and Communication Development, The Tiegerman School now operates four campuses across New York and Long Island, serving more than 500 children and adults ages 3–21.
In 2012, Tiegerman Community Services was established to provide residential, vocational, and day rehabilitation support for adults with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.
Together, the school and its programs support roughly 700 families from Long Island and New York City, offering educational, therapeutic, and community services.
“God Denied” continues Tiegerman’s long-standing interest in past-life regression, which she first explored in “Past Lives Denied.”
Her debut novel followed Midwestern professor Caitlyn Morris, who underwent hypnosis to piece together clues from her past lives.
In her new book, Tiegerman links her protagonist to the resistance in Nazi-occupied Germany, combining historical events with the contemporary campus setting.
The story connects past and present, exploring how past experiences can influence understanding of idd flashbacks while visiting an archaeological site in Crete.
“I had these flashbacks about what we were looking at and I knew where everything was located,” she recalled, though her parents, wary of such experiences in the 1970s, urged her not to speak of it.
Decades later, she attended a professional training seminar with psychiatrist Dr. Brian Weiss in Rhinebeck, New York, which provided a framework that helped shape both novels.
“I had been very curious, so I decided, ‘all right, I’ll go for the week. I’ll see what it’s all about. It shocked me. It just absolutely shocked me,” she said.
Tiegerman described her writing process as disciplined and methodical. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when she wrote “Past Lives Denied,” she maintained a strict routine.
“I would get up in the morning and write for about an hour-and-a-half every day after I would go to the gym,” she said. “I never pressured myself. Whatever I wrote, I wrote.”
Reflecting on her decades-long career in education and advocacy, she said, “My experience teaching at Tiegerman really gave me the backbone to take that book and do something with it.”
She said she hopes her latest novel will resonate with readers intrigued by past lives as well as the moral complexities of modern campus life.
“The topic of past lives is more mainstream today, and that’s the group I think will be interested in these books,” Tiegerman said.
“God Denied” is scheduled for publication on Amazon in March 2026.
