The Choice

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Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job; loyal friends; his dream home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life, he believes that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is until Gabby Holland moves in next door. Despite Travis's attempts to be friendly, she seems to have a chip on her shoulder about him. But something compels Travis to get to know his new neighbour. His persistent efforts lead them both to make tough decisions, the consequences of which neither could have foreseen. The Choice confronts us with that most heart-wrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

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Now available in paperback – Jan Hatanaka's powerful, life-enhancing book on how six people, encountering significant adversity, made a conscious choice to work to build a life of meaning.

Using six stories from her casebook as a therapist, Hatanaka explores and illustrates the complex relationships that exist between death and grief and the path that can lead to reconciling that grief.

Included in her stories is her own heart-wrenching and dramatic experience following a major health crisis. Hatanaka draws on her personal, clinical, and academic experience as she takes the reader through the Grief Reconciliation Process, describing the actual steps taken by people who manage to build a life of meaning in the face of significant adversity.

The Choice is brilliant in its simple, gentle, and profound exploration of the reality of suffering as part of the human experience. It exposes the hope that can be hidden in affliction.

The Choice will be of great help to those currently in the grips of personal adversity; the loved ones of those who are suffering; and health-care professionals, including medical practitioners, counsellors, therapists, and spiritual advisors.

Jan Hatanaka, the founder of Grief Reconciliation International Inc., holds positions at York University, Toronto, in the Department of Nursing, the Religious Studies program, and the York Institute for Health Research. She has a B.Sc. in Nursing from the University of Ottawa, a Master's degree in Education and Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Wales. Dr. Hatanaka's approach to grief and reconciliation is informed by her personal experience; her extensive academic research on the universality of grief and loss; and her in-depth discussions with hundreds of individuals willing to recount their personal stories.

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In 1944, sixteen-year-old ballerina Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz. Separated from her parents on arrival, she endures unimaginable experiences, including being made to dance for the infamous Josef Mengele. When the camp is finally liberated, she is pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive. The horrors of the Holocaust didn't break Edith. In fact, they helped her learn to live again with a life-affirming strength and a truly remarkable resilience. The Choice is her unforgettable story. It shows that hope can flower in the most unlikely places.