book details

Book: Stanley Park by Racine Hiet

categories: Book, Women's Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction, Family Saga, 1960's, Literary, Self Growth, Holocaust, Women's Liberation, Human Spirirt, Living Authentically, Drama

Racine Hiet

about this book: "Chronicling several lives from the 1930s to 1960s, Hiet skillfully introduces and intertwines her characters' lives and passions in a riveting tale of mystery, murder, deceptions, love discovered, love lost. Hiet faces head-on the abhorrent aspects of life, yet anchored always in the beauty and freshness of Stanley Park, with the major characters finally finding what they seek, her vision is one of hope and love, and Stanley Park, a powerful thread, becomes the place of dreams proclaimed, true selves revealed, and ultimately freedom from their physical and psychological prisons."

"I found myself wanting all the characters to have their dreams come true. This novel explores and shows us how the human spirit survives and thrives despite conditions and experiences life gives them."

"What inspired you to write Stanley Park?" it's hard to remember exactly what starts a literary journey. I needed some understanding of the influences on my life that began in the 50's before women's liberation, a time that now must seem to young women utterly incredible and unimaginable with the limitations put on both women and subsequently men as well. It was almost an unconscious time until the late sixties and seventies when all hell broke loose and young people were protesting every accepted society convention. So the novel spans the era that I grew up in. It's about a woman and a man's journey back to themselves, and that's ultimately all our journeys. Our lives are like novels. We have our cards given to us in our childhood, but the choices of how we are going to play those cards evolve throughout a lifetime. It feels like our lives are all about finally getting to know and understand ourselves, breaking through outer limitations and even more challenging, self-imposed chains. It seems to be about waking up and living consciously. My novel explores that.

Stanley Park's original title was Hearts Don't Burn. That title came from a true story--that's mentioned briefly in the novel-- about teenager Joan of Arc being burned at the stake for her beliefs, and her executioner saying after that her heart would not burn. I believe it's our hearts that are real, that we need to follow them, and that is where our dreams live on, the dreams that sustain us and lead us to our authentic selves. Our hearts, if we listen and follow them with courage, can help us break the chains that bind us in our self-made prisons of fear, scarcity, and limiting belief systems. I wanted to give a sense of hope that though all may seem lost, our hearts at any time can be resurrected from the ashes.