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About the Book
In Heaven, there is a gated
community for those who end their lives by choice. This is a complete surprise
to Hope, who ends her life one morning on the banks of the Fox River in
Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Hope has always dealt with deep
sadness. From childhood on, she visited therapists, doctors, alternative
medicine practitioners, Reiki artists, etc., to no avail. In Heaven, God
reassures her that he knows what caused the sadness, but he won’t reveal it
yet.
All community residents are
required to attend weekly group therapy. Hope’s first group is led by Virginia
Woolf. Several of the book’s chapters tell the stories of other members of this
group.
Filled with many moments of
striking humor, uplifting realizations, and difficult challenges, Hope finds
her way in Heaven. She meets many people like herself, who help her restore her
forgotten artistic talent and passion, and God himself, who is amazingly human
in the most inhuman of ways. Hope finds understanding and forgiveness, and most
importantly, friends.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685132421
ISBN-13: 978-1685132422
ASIN: B0BV36PQKL
Print length: 342 pages
Purchase a copy of Hope Always
Rises by visiting Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookshop.org. Make sure you also add
Hope Always Rises to your Goodreads reading list.
Excerpt
I
never knew God slept. I certainly never expected him to wear pajamas or have
rumpled hair. But if he looked like the God I always imagined, the God with
long white hair and a beard and a mustache and a serious, serious face, I never
would have been able to rest my head on his shoulder, like I was able to do
now.
I
was very glad he wore blue flannel pajamas.
“You
knew you couldn’t expect them to be happy, right, Hope? You knew that,” he
said, and wrapped his arm around me. “It was part of your choice to end your
life.”
I
turned my face into his chest and wept.
It
had been my choice. I didn’t expect them to be happy.
But
I never thought I would witness their sadness.
For
the first time, I regretted Heaven. I wished for the black void that I thought
death might be, that day that I swallowed each pill with a gulp of wine.
“It’ll
be okay, Hope,” God said. Not a booming voice from a burning bush or a dark
cloud. A soft voice that soothed me as I cried.
Praise for Hope Always Rises
“Giorgio's Hope Always Rises
leaves the reader with the one thing it promises: hope. While tackling an
emotional subject, suicide, Giorgio doesn't shy away from the pain that brings
her characters to the brink, but rather dives into the fragility, confusion,
and motivations that accompany the human spirit on that difficult journey. Rich
with empathy, humor, and imagination, Giorgio paints a beautiful picture of the
afterlife that is a balm for anyone who has ever lost someone.”
--Marisa Dondlinger, author of Open
and Gray Lines
"Hope Always Rises is a beautiful,
heartfelt, and surprisingly funny take on the normally uncomfortable topic of
suicide. Kathie Giorgio manages to balance Hope’s newfound peace and the harsh
reality of the pain she left behind, so that the reader is happy to be pulled
into the ups and downs with her.
– Nora Murray, author of Kingdom
Come
"In Hope Always Rises,
Giorgio’s detailed, surprising afterlife is populated with happiness,
heartbreak, and small mercies in loving, ever-unfolding measure. Hope’s story,
along with those of others in her section of Heaven, offers an intriguing
variation on the theme of salvation, this one with a fallible God who enjoys a
sangria.
– Angela Bier, author of The
Accidental Archivist
About Author Kathie Giorgio
Kathie Giorgio is the author of
seven novels, two story collections, an essay collection, and four poetry
collections. Her latest novel, Hope Always Rises, will be released on
February 28, 2023. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and
poetry and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library
Association, the Silver Pen Award for Literary Excellence, the Pencraft Award
for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award In Fiction. Her poem “Light”
won runner-up in the 2021 Rosebud Magazine Poetry Prize. In a recent column, Jim Higgins, the books
editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, listed Giorgio as one of the top 21
Wisconsin writers of the 21st century. Kathie is also the director and founder
of AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC, an international creative writing
studio.
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