The Inspiration Behind The Book: Guiding Emily | Barbara Hinske

This is a guest blog post by Barbara Hinske, author of the book, Guiding Emily – A Tale of Love, Loss, and Courage. The new book will be available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback versions on June 12, 2020, Barbara’s birthday. Guiding Emily sounds like a beautiful story and I will be adding it to my reading list! ~ GGB

The Inspiration Behind Guiding Emily

Have you ever heard a story that changed your life?

Within thirty minutes of stepping through the Foundation for Blind Children’s doorway, my life found its new purpose and mission.

I’ve lived down the street from The Foundation for Blind Children for decades. I’d never been inside. The Foundation’s Development Director, Steve Pawlowski, encouraged my husband and I to come for a tour with such enthusiasm and pride that we felt we couldn’t decline.

The Foundation provides education, tools, and services for “children” from birth through one hundred and four. From observing teachers working one-on-one with students with multiple disabilities, to seeing the six-year-old child from Canada running and hugging staff even though his parents had been told by their Canadian doctor he would never walk or talk, to photos displayed on the wall of the group of blind teens and young adults who had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, I was moved beyond measure.

Choking back tears, I asked Steve how I could help. What did the Foundation need? His answer was simple and straightforward: (1) funding, and (2) to raise awareness of problems that visually impaired people face within the sighted community. 

I’m an author and knew that a novel could address both of these issues. 

The storyline of my new series was born in that moment.

Guiding Emily is the first book in a series and is a love story between Garth, a guide dog, and Emily Main, his handler who loses her eyesight on her honeymoon. It’s the heartwarming/heartbreaking/poignant tale of their journey together. 

Half the profits from Guiding Emily will be donated to The Foundation for Blind Children. For the price of a book, every reader receives a novel that will provide a welcome respite from daily life and supports a remarkable organization that believes vision loss is a diagnosis, NOT a disability. What could be better than that?

Join the movement to improve lives: learn more about Guiding Emily.

About Barbara Hinske, Author of Guiding Emily

Barbara Hinske is an attorney who recently left the practice of law to pursue her career as a full-time novelist. Her latest novel, Guiding Emily, was conceived during a tour of The Foundation for Blind Children. She was inspired and moved by their mission and is donating half of her proceeds from the book to the Foundation. Barb is also the author of the bestselling Rosemont series and the murder mysteries in her ‘Who’s There?!’ collection. Her novella The Christmas Club was made into a 2019 Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.

She inherited the fiction gene from her father who wrote mysteries when he retired and told her a story every night of her childhood. She and her husband share their own Rosemont with two adorable and spoiled dogs. A true homebody, she is besotted with decorating, entertaining, cooking, and gardening.

For book updates, follow Barbara on Facebook and Twitter!