With ‘Hold on please, Emily‘ now officially launched, people have been asking, who exactly is Emily McGregor? Is she a fictional character that is based off of a real person? Is my story like Carol Matas’s novel, ‘After the War‘ since my story goes through a life journey of a fictional character involved in a realistic situation? Well, absolutely.
On a side note, ‘After the War‘ was a book I read back in grade school that tells the story of a group of Jewish Holocaust survivors trying to find healing and a home amid the ashes of World War II. Ruth Mendenberg, the protagonist, shares her feelings about the holocaust, stating that the Nazis took everything but her life from her. In her story, Ruth discovers that she does have more to lose and that despite the fall of Germany, the danger of her people still exist. Although this story is a completely different genre (historical fiction), the connect is that the protagonist of the story was created to symbolize a group of people.
Emily in my novel symbolizes the struggles and fears that come with a cancer diagnosis, and the hope and strength in the face of adversity for any cancer patient. Likewise, Ruth symbolizes the struggles and fears that come from being a war victim, and the hope and strength during the recovery afterward.
Check out my novel, ‘Hold on please, Emily,’ to read Emily’s story and fall in love with this character as you learn about a brain cancer patient’s journey.