Читать книгу Home to Hope Mountain - Joan Kilby - Страница 4

Dear Reader,

In the summer of 2009, my home state of Victoria was caught in the grip of devastating bushfires known as Black Saturday. People not from Australia might think the term “bush” means small bushes, but it can also mean the forest. The toll from Black Saturday was horrendous: one hundred and seventy-three human lives were lost and over two thousand homes destroyed, plus countless livestock and wildlife.

Home to Hope Mountain isn’t about death and destruction, though. It’s about survival and recovery and the resilience of the human spirit. It’s about the ability of the land to regenerate. And about a small community that pulls together to put the tragic past behind them and rebuild their lives. It’s about the power of love to heal and to renew hope for the future.

Although I’ve drawn on stories of the bushfires, neither the town of Hope Mountain nor any characters or their experiences are based on real places or people.

The Horses For Hope program is real, however, and does amazing work for people suffering from a variety of mental health issues. It was this program and not the fires that was the inspiration for this book. I hope I’ve done the program, and the amazing bond between horses and humans, justice in my portrayal. I’ve taken liberties with the program’s method of funding for plot purposes. Any other inaccuracies are inadvertent.

Thanks to Colin Emonson for answering my many questions and explaining how the therapy works. For more information go to www.horsesforhope.org.au/.

I love to hear from readers. To drop me a line, or to find out more about my books, go to www.joankilby.com.

Warm regards,

Joan Kilby