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The Heroine Next Door by Zeena Nackerdien:

Publisher: Book Venture (January 7, 2015)
Category: Modern Day Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Health
Tour Dates: October/November, 2015
ISBN: 978-1941736-272
ASIN: B00TIMY97G
Available in: Print & ebook, 154 Pages

The emotionally-wounded survivors of the 9/11 attacks include a fifty-year old, South African Muslim scientist, Leila, who lost her fiancée, Khalid, on that fateful day. She is the narrator of a story threading together the lives of four South African Muslims navigating a technologically advanced and increasingly-complicated world.

Initially tentative in pursuing her dream to aid patients with HIV/AIDS and other diseases (following deaths of loved ones to these illnesses) in the face of adversity encountered as a US immigrant, Leila finally asserts herself in middle age to carve her own identity and provide possible solutions to the management of diseases rampant in Sub-Saharan Africa.

My Thoughts on The Heroine Next Door by Zeena Nackerdien:

Zeena Nackerdin is a scientist first but has written not only about the health issues she is most interested in but also books of poetry and now ‘The Heroine Next Door. She wanted to find a way to help us non-scientists better understand the issues of HIV/AIDS, TB, and Diabetes especially the vast numbers of people it effects in her motherland of South Africa. She decided to tackle this through the use of fiction and the lead character, Leila in this short novel.

We learn not only about the epidemic in South Africa but also issues facing U.S. immigrants. The book opens with Leila visiting the 9/11 memorial, thinking of her fiancée who died on that fateful day 13 years earlier. She is an unemployed scientist but soon realizes that she wants to make a difference in South Africa. Leila decides to pursue her dream of patient advocacy. She decided to go back to South Africa to try to help of of the patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, TB, and Diabetes. She makes fast friends with four South Africans who aim to accomplish the same goal.

I really liked how Nackerdien wove in 9/11 in contrast to the health epidemic in South Africa Though some readers may find the numerous references sighted during the story a bit disruptive to the flow of the story, ‘The Heroine Next Door’ is a tender look at the problems of HIV/AIDS, TB, and Diabetes. Leila and her friends strive not only to to help medical professionals better work with patients but also to help patients understand what they can do to gain the best outcome. This patient empowerment could be used all over the world.

4/5

I was given a ebook copy of this book for my honest review.

Praise for The Heroine Next Door by Zeena Nackerdien:

“As a scientist turned patient advocate and writer, Nackerdien is intensely interested in building relationships with people from different cultures through storytelling and education. It is that drive that is palpable in this novel THE HEROINE NEXT DOOR – the author’s dichotomous life as experienced in apartheid-South-Africa and a Western world responding to the digital information age and emergent diseases: she knows terror, especially as a Muslim woman. She incorporates all of this In THE HEROINE NEXT DOOR, surprisingly her debut novel, by creating a fictional character, Leila, emerging from the darkness cast by personal and political upheavals, who gains a sense of her own identity and contributes knowledge gained in the USA to improving the management of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other illnesses in South Africa.
One of the many shining aspects of Zeena’s luminous novel is her sharing the sensibilities of immigrants whose new life in a new country must sort out not only language and dress barriers but also religious or spiritual belief differences. In electing to focus on that turning point moment in history – the 9/11 tragedy – as the stimulus for altering life perspectives she manages to give us all a better sense of understanding and at least a different point of view – both healing factors in a nurturing a wound worthy of comparison to Amfortas’ wound in PARSIFAL. Highly recommended.” –Grady Harp, Amazon Top 100 Reviewer, Hall of Fame

“I am able to identify with both the notion of being personally and/or emotionally uprooted on and after 9/11 as well as the concept of being utterly overwhelmed by life in NYC. Zeena Nackerdien’s work rings a personal note with both natives and those making the journey to establishing themselves in the metropolis.”-Curt, Amazon Reviewer

” What a haunting story. We all remember that fateful day. We are introduced to Leila, a brilliant woman whose life is turned upside down on September 11, 2001 when her fiance is killed in the attack. Through a series of Facebook posts we are taken on a journey that explores Leila’s past, her relationships with family and friends, and her background in the field of science. Heartwarming and raw, you will find yourself in a great story of triumph. Zeena Nackerdien has written a wonderful story, highly recommend this read!”- Sierra Klein, Amazon Reviewer

About Zeena Nackerdien:

Zeena Nackerdien is a dual US and South African citizen. She obtained a PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Zeena has been a research chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland and a senior research associate at The Rockefeller University in New York.

She is the author of several publications in scientific journals and two poetry collections, “Mist Over Peace” and “Scatterlings.” As a scientist turned patient advocate and writer, she is intensely interested in building relationships with people from different cultures through story-telling and education. Zeena currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Website: http://www.heroinenextdoor.com/
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