About the AuthorHannah Robinson was born in London and now lives in Buckinghamshire. UK. She gained a Masters degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, before teaching art in secondary schools for twelve years. She is deeply interested in spirituality and consciousness and supports Coping International, an organisation set up to help the children of Catholic priests. how do you read in one day Dying to Be Free: From Enforced Secrecy To Near Death To True Transformation
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Love - the most emotionally, spiritually and psychologically healing power there isBy Grady HarpBritish author Hannah Robinson gained a Masters degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, before teaching art in secondary schools for twelve years. She is deeply interested in spirituality and consciousness and supports Coping International, an organisation set up to help the children of Catholic priests. DYING TO BE FREE is her debut in writing.Hannahs flair for writing comes so naturally to her given this is a memoir and in so many memoirs the writing feels guarded, stilted, and either sub rosa or wailing in style. Not in this fascinating and unique book. In her introduction Hannah summarizes the memoir content well: In January 1998, I was injured in an accident, sustaining life threatening multiple injuries. During the many months of healing and recovery that followed, I often felt that my life had been cataclysmically shattered and that I would never feel happy or at peace again. But now, seventeen years on, I see the accident as the best thing that ever happened to me. It was a catalyst for a series of changes and life events, amazing and excruciating in equal measure, that stand out as turning points in a life-transforming journey. There are two facts inextricably bound up with all this that I should mention at the outset. The first is that in 1978 my father chose to become a Catholic priest, omitting to tell anyone arranging his ordination that hed just separated from my mother and had a one-month-old baby daughter (me). He embarked on a plan to keep me a secret, which he still tries to uphold to this day. The second fact is that directly after the accident, while still unconscious, I had what has become known as a near-death experience. I am very aware of how much skepticism surrounds the reporting of near-death experiences, or NDEs as Ill call them from now on, and in writing my account I am in no way seeking to prove the true nature or validity of them. I am just hoping to share my story as truthfully and accurately as possible. I now see that these two facts, my fathers actions and my NDE, are interconnected and I hope to deepen my understanding of how and why this is through the process of writing, while also sharing my experience as I now realize there are people out there who have been through a similar thing and might benefit from knowing they are not alone. During the darkest times, other peoples accounts of how NDEs had transformed their lives often kept me going and gave me hope.From that stunning overture, Hanna takes us step by cautious step through a life change that embraced so many aspects that to appreciate where she has been and what she has overcome (and grown from) demands time with her in this book. Brave, relevant, illuminating, this is a book for those who have shared similar experiences but it is essential reading for all those who want to understand the significance of NDE. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, May 160 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Ok bookBy Beth zNot as engaging as I had hoped.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A pretty good readBy Doug Erlandson"Dying to Be Free," by Hannah Robinson, is an interesting read. Hannah's father and mother conceived her while her father was studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood. As a means of covering up potential embarrassment, the Catholic hierarchy in England forced Hannah's mother to agree to not having contact with the father. However, as Hannah grew up, she wanted to meet her father. A significant part of this story is of the valiant attempt of her mother to make this possible, despite repeated roadblocks thrown in the way by the Church. Finally, as a teen, Hannah was able to have a supervised meeting with her father, who showed no warmth toward her. The very occasional subsequent meetings were no better.Devastated by her encounters, Hannah succumbed to drugs and alcohol. One evening while under the influence she had a terrible accident, which required extensive surgery for her life-threatening injuries. During this surgery she had an out-of-body experience, which profoundly changed her life. The rest of her account details this experience and how it has helped her come to peace with herself and her circumstances.Although on the whole this is a pretty good book, I found the extensive quoting from the correspondence between Hannah's mother and the Catholic hierarchy to be a bit tedious. The book itself could have been well served had the author summarized the correspondence and simply quoted some of the most salient passages. I also felt that the lessons she learned from her near-death experience and how that affected her subsequent life could have been drawn more forcefully.