Book Review - When Dreams Touch by Rosemary Hanrahan plus $25 Amazon/Paypal Giveaway

Book Description

Caught between the 1980’s HIV/AIDS global pandemic and the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, three women strive to realize their dreams.

Pregnant and uneducated, 16-year-old Adelaide trades her dream of escaping the grinding poverty of her rural village for hopes of a better life for her unborn child. Kate, a young American physician, often finds her roles as mother and wife to be in conflict with her childhood dream to practice medicine in a third-world country. Giselle, a university-educated artist, lives in Port-au-Prince. While she sympathizes with the plight of her fellow Haitians, she envisions her and her family’s future as a comfortable life in the United States.

When the violent 1991 coup d’état erupts in Haiti, these three women’s lives intersect and are forever changed. Despite different cultures and life circumstances, the women share a vision of a better future for their children and the troubled country of Haiti. Their personal stories of adversity, tragedy and triumph are embedded in the complex social, political and cultural climate that evolves when international assistance programs influence individuals and communities in the developing world. Often in startling contrast, the women portrayed in When Dreams Touch are united through mutual understanding and respect. With courage and perseverance, they confront the broader injustices of the world they live in and create a legacy of enduring hope.

"When Dreams Touch" was awarded: the 2015 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award for superior work by a debut author, the 2015 Eric Hoffer Award for e-book fiction, the 2015 National Indie Excellence Award for regional fiction and the 2015 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for historical fiction. The book was also selected as a Historical Finalist, as a First Novel Finalist, and as a General Fiction Finalist in the 2015 IAN Book of the Year Awards and featured in The US Review.

All proceeds from sales of When Dreams Touch go to health and education programs in Haiti. 

Available to buy from....

Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble   Kobo   iBooks   

"Hanrahan, a physician who has a decade of firsthand experience living and working in Haiti and other developing countries, brings a realism to her novel that only one who has seen it for themselves can hope to portray." RECOMMENDED by the US Review

 "The author's voice is smooth and professional and she has a way with words that will pull you in and entertain you. In fact, I found it really hard to part with. I'm very impressed with the skill here.... All in all a wonderful read that I highly recommend." - 22nd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards

 

Sister Carmelle, the director of Fondwa Clinic in Haiti practicing drawing blood as part of training for the community’s HIV/AIDS program funded by the College of American Pathologists Foundation and Partners in Progress..Sister Carmelle passed awy in March 2012. "When Dreams Touch" is dedicated to this incredible woman. An inspiration and dear friend to me and so many others.

Our Book Review
This is a story that will grab and entice any reader, it is extremely hard to put down not knowing what will happen next. The author's very personal connection to Haiti, it's people and the tragedies it has endured brought this extremely humbling fictional story to life.  I felt sadness and was emotional even before starting the story as I read the author's moving notes on the earthquake in Haiti and the suffering it caused. This continued and the abundance of emotions felt whilst reading this story was very real.

Three women, from different classes and cultures, are drawn together in an amazing story striving for hope and a better future for Haiti.  Each with their own poignant story and selfless sacrifices, Kate, a doctor, Giselle, an artist and teenager Adelaide.  Although all the realistic characters gripped me, it was Kate who drew me in the most for her courage and strength to persevere in the effort to educate the people of Haiti on the prevention of HIV/Aids & unplanned pregnancies.  As the country finds itself in political chaos, earthquakes, slavery and abuse, most people would do anything to avoid the unpredictable clutches of Haiti yet the overwhelming need of the aid workers and local people to continue their mission came across very clear to the reader.

The author shows the Haiti people as having such strength, loyalty and kindness towards each other regardless of their own situations.  It is hard to imagine why medical procedures, we all take for granted in our own countries, even the simplest of things, are barren in third world countries such as Haiti.

This has to be one of the most realistic, heartfelt books I have read.

Our Rating

'5/5 doubled, tripled & quadrupled'

About the Author

Dr. Rosemary Hanrahan Edwards knows how powerfully dreams can touch lives and bring people together, as they do in her first novel, When Dreams Touch. Her experience as a physician, involvement with international and public health non-profit organizations, and leadership in health, education and community development in Haiti are the inspiration of "When Dreams Touch." 

Rosemary started volunteering and working in developing countries, including Nepal, Botswana and Haiti, in 2001. Since then, she has touched the lives of many people through her tireless work and her life has been deeply touched by her many colleagues, friends and partners in the developing world. 

Rosemary was the 2003 and 2006 recipient of the College of American Pathologists Foundation Humanitarian Grant Award for her medical laboratory work in Haiti. In 2007, she received the Delta Omega National Honor Society Award for Best Master's Thesis in Public Health and the Outstanding Student Award for Academic Excellence from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. 

The mother of two adult sons, Rosemary currently lives in Western Pennsylvania, where she practices medicine as an independent consultant for anatomic and clinical pathology practices. In addition to volunteering as a consultant in international healthcare and writing grants for non-profit organizations, she has been a board member of Vincentian Collaborative System (VCS) since 2010. VCS provides a continuum of senior services in the Western Pennsylvania region. 

When she is not practicing her medical profession, Rosemary enjoys outdoor activities, travel, competing in triathlons and writing. When Dreams Touch is her first novel, which will be published under her pen name, Rosemary Hanrahan.

Find the author on the following sites...

Website   Facebook   Twitter   Goodreads   Amazon Author Page

In October, Rosemary will travel to Haiti, as a volunteer, with PA PS Team International, H3 Missions and Rotary international District 5330 to conduct cervical cancer screening and treatment for over 2000 Haitian women. Fifteen local Haitian doctors and nurses will also be trained so they can continue this critical screening effort. 

As depicted with Adelaide’s story in When Dreams Touch, Haiti has one of the highest cervical cancer rates in the world and treatment is extremely limited. The average Haitian woman who dies of cervical cancer leaves behind five and eight orphaned children. 

Your donation of $20 U.S. will cover the cost of a PAP smear and, if necessary, life-saving treatment for cervical cancer for one woman in Haiti. 

To make this life-saving U.S tax- deductible donation, please go to: http://bit.ly/H3MissionsGFM1

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