Review
'a heartbreaking and heartwarming tale' People Magazine
When Hannah Housden was three years old she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Although she underwent extensive surgery and radical chemotherapy it soon became horribly clear that the cancer was spreading too rapidly for further treatment to be effective and Maria Housden had to accept the unacceptable. Her beloved young daughter was going to die. In melodic prose she tells the painful, yet ultimately uplifting, story of the last year of Hannah's brief life. In spite of her youth, Hannah faced death with a wisdom and calm acceptance that would be unusual in a person many years her senior. This is her gift; the legacy that she left behind her. Hannah's maturity and honesty touched everyone she came into contact with and her no-nonsense attitude forced even the occasionally offhand medical staff to see her as a human being first and an illness second. The descriptions of Hannah's final days of pain and exhaustion are so poignant that it is almost impossible to read them without tears constantly blurring the eyesight, but amidst the grief there are also tears of gratitude for the unfathomable wonder of life. Her legacy of bravery will bring a comfort to anyone who has faced a loss, because it is proof positive of the power of love - a love that continues even after death. This is not a depressing story, nor is it meant to be. Maria Housden's narrative contains all the sorrow and grief associated with the death of a child, but it is also infused with the joy and celebration of a life lived to the full. This is not always a comfortable book to read - no book dealing with the loss of a child could expect to be - but it repays the effort tenfold. (Kirkus UK)
Product Description
This title contains transformative lessons in life learnt through a remarkable three-year-old girl's battle with cancer. From Hannah's story emerge five profound lessons - of truth, joy, faith, compassion and wonder - that have the power to change our lives. The author shares the transformative lessons in living she received from her three-year-old daughter Hannah, who brought courage, honesty and joy to her struggle with cancer. During the last year of her short life, Hannah was fearless in the way she faced death - and irrepressibly joyful in the way she approached living. The little girl who wore her favourite red shoes into the operating theatre changed the life of everyone who came in contact with her. Now, in a book that preserves Hannah's indomitable spirit, Maria Housden offers the gift of her daughter's last year to all of us. In a lyrically told narrative, Housden recounts Hannah's battle with cancer in simple, straightforward language that transcends grief and fear to become a celebration.
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