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Bianca Viola

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https://thebiancaviola.wixsite.com/biancaviola/

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Young Adult, Contemporary

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September 2020

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Bianca Jortner is the author of debut novel The Cities Within Us.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Bianca Viola While the characters and events of this novel are purely fiction, much of the realities of the United States foster care system portrayed in this nove…moreWhile the characters and events of this novel are purely fiction, much of the realities of the United States foster care system portrayed in this novel are not. There is no doubt: This country's system is failing our children. According to statistics, more than 400,000 youth in the United States are in the foster care system. Evidence has shown that foster youth are far more likely to do worse in school—not because of their abilities, but because of the many unjust obstacles stacked against them due to the system—and less than 65 percent of foster care youth graduate college.

Upon learning further about the realities of the foster care system and how corrupt it is, as well as the numerous hardships such youth face, I was inspired—called—to write this novel.

In the beginning, I wasn't sure where I was going with it. All I knew was that I wanted to tell a story—a real story, one that touched on complex and unjust—sad, but true—issues of today's society. As an avid reader, I've found that I haven't seen a lot of young adult novels focusing on youth living in group homes.

While many authors say that they created their plot before their characters, there is no doubt that Julian and Theo were born first. In all honesty, it felt like I was writing their stories for them, as I let their pasts and presents and futures and dreams and fears become words on pages. Both of them shaped this story. Essentially, I wanted this to be a novel about them. The more I wrote, the more I learned more about Julian and Theo, as funny as that sounds. It was as if they had already existed, and I was telling their story to the world, getting to know them a little more with each chapter.

While it was a rewarding experience, this was hard to write. What you see on these pages is a year of drafting, revising, and editing—but also a year of learning, discovering, and growing.

Writing this has allowed me to open my eyes further to the corruption of the foster care system, as well as what it is like for orphans like Julian and Theo. Upon turning 18, 1 out of every 5 people from the foster care system end up without a home. Not only that, but foster care youth are statistically far more likely to deal with depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses.

I wanted to create a story that felt real, with characters who could be real people, that would allow readers to feel all the emotions—happiness, sadness, fear, inspiration, frustration—all of it. I hope Dreaming of Hiraeth did that and more for you. I hope that, now, you can take with you the knowledge of the injustices of the foster care systems and have the passion to take action toward change: a system where foster children, who are more than deserving of bright futures, can find their loving homes and be given the resources and platform to fulfill their dreams.

If you can, please donate to organizations to make a difference in foster care children's lives. Here are some trustworthy non-profits to make donations to: Child Welfare League of America (cwla.org/), which provides services that aid 3.5 million neglected and abused children each year; Foster America (foster-america.org/), which improves the lives of children in the foster care or at risk of entering the system; Together We Rise (togetherwerise.org/), which assists hundreds of thousands of children in foster care; and other non-profits paving change and better futures for foster care children.(less)

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Average rating: 5.0 · 1 rating · 1 review · 2 distinct works

	The Cities Within Us it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cities Within Us 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Bianca Viola wants to read Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 08, 2024 06:48AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Good to Great by Jim Collins. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Good to Great by Jim Collins <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Bianca Viola wants to read The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers―Straight Talk on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship by Ben Horowitz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Bianca Viola wants to read Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Bianca Viola wants to read Harvard Business Review Manager's Handbook: The 17 Skills Leaders Need to Stand Out (HBR Handbooks) by Harvard Business Review	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Bianca Viola wants to read The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism by Hubert Joly (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Quotes by Bianca Viola (?)

“The world was whole then, the sun and moon together as one.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: coming-of-age, friendship, friendship-quotes, sun-and-moon, young-adult, young-adult-fiction, young-adult-novels

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“Somehow the moon still remained, shining its wary life on the world, filled with pain and dread and unspoken secrets.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: inspiration, life, moon, moon-quotes, sad-quotes

1 likes

“He would choose being alone over being lonely in a crowd.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: alone, dreaming-of-hiraeth, inspiration-quotes, julian-hayes, loneliness, lonely-quotes, young-adult

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“We're all in the same boat here, trying to survive.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: book-quotes, inspirational, life, life-quotes, survival-quotes, survive, young-adult-fiction, young-adult-quotes

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“I felt it deep in my bones, beyond the need for survival: the starvation for meaning, for purpose.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: dreaming-of-hiraeth, inspiration, life, meaning, purpose, survival, young-adult-fiction

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“I searched his warm eyes in a failed attempt to find a galaxy in them I hadn't already discovered.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: dreaming-of-hiraeth, fiction, love, love-quotes, romance, romance-quotes, romantic, young-adult

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“The feeling spreading through us, catching on fire like flames, was vast: It was that of freedom. It echoed through our lungs, tore through our hearts, carried our legs forward.”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

tags: book-quotes, fiction-quotes, freedom, inspirational, inspiring, liberty, life, young-adult-novel

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“Where would they be without each other to hold, to cling onto when the other was falling? Who else would grab and pull the hand of the other who was slipping down a dark hole, with no one else to understand them?”
― Bianca Viola, Dreaming of Hiraeth

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