Thanks to Alex Knight of Hachette Book Group U.S., I am giving away one print copy of ‘His Whole Life’ by Elizabeth Hay.
Description of His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay
Starting with something as simple as a boy who wants a dog, His Whole Life takes us into a richly intimate world where everything that matters to him is at risk: family, nature, home.
At the outset ten-year-old Jim and his Canadian mother and American father are on a journey from New York City to a lake in eastern Ontario during the last hot days of August. What unfolds is a completely enveloping story that spans a few pivotal years of his youth. Moving from city to country, summer to winter, wellbeing to illness, the novel charts the deepening bond between mother and son even as the family comes apart.
Set in the mid-1990s, when Quebec is on the verge of leaving Canada, this captivating novel is an unconventional coming of age story as only Elizabeth Hay could tell it. It draws readers in with its warmth, wisdom, its vivid sense of place, its searching honesty, and nuanced portrait of the lives of one family and those closest to it. Hay explores the mystery of how members of a family can hurt each other so deeply, and remember those hurts in such detail, yet find openings that shock them with love and forgiveness. This is vintage Elizabeth Hay at the height of her powers.
About Elizabeth Hay
Elizabeth Hayis the author of the #1 nationally bestselling novel Alone in the Classroom, the Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel Late Nights On Air, as well as three other award-winning works of fiction, A Student of Weather, Garbo Laughs, and Small Change. Formerly a radio broadcaster, she spent a number of years in Mexico and New York City before returning to Canada. She lives in Ottawa.
Giveaway of His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay
This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on December 12, 2015. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
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.
Thanks to Loren Jaggers of Berkley Publishing Group/New American Library, I am giving away 1 print copy of ‘All The Difference’ by Leah Ferguson.
Description of ‘All The Difference’ by Leah Ferguson:
New Year’s Eve. A time for resolutions. A chance to make a change. And for thirty-year-old Molly Sullivan, a night that will transform her life forever…
All it takes is one word—yes or no—to decide Molly’s future. As the clock counts down to midnight and the ball slowly begins to drop, Molly’s picture-perfect boyfriend gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him. She knows she should say yes, especially considering the baby-sized surprise she just discovered she’s carrying. But something in her heart is telling her to say no…
Now, Molly’s future can follow two very different paths: one where she stays with her baby’s father, despite her misgivings and his family’s unreasonable expectations, and one where she ventures out on her own as a single mother, embracing all the hardships that come with it.
And by the time the next New Year is rung in, Molly will know which choice was right—following her head or listening to her heart…
About Leah Ferguson:
Leah Ferguson holds a B.A. from West Chester University, where she studied English Literature and Russian, and an M.A. in teaching from Notre Dame of Maryland University. A former editor and teacher, Leah now writes from home while raising a herd of young people.
An unabashed fan of Notre Dame football, Talking Heads, contemporary fiction and sometimes running, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, three children, dog and a tailless cat. ALL THE DIFFERENCE is her first novel.
Giveaway of ‘All The Difference’ by Leah Ferguson:
This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and end on September 16, 2015. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
Thanks to Alex Knight of Hachette Book Group U.S., I am giving away one print copy of ‘His Whole Life’ by Elizabeth Hay.
