Lene Fogelberg is dying—she is sure of it—but no doctor in Sweden, her home country, believes her. Love stories enfold her, with her husband, her two precious daughters, her enchanting surroundings, but the question she has carried in her heart since childhood—Will I die young?—is threatening all she holds dear, even her sanity. When her young family moves to the US, an answer, a diagnosis, is finally found: she is in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease. But is it too late?
Unflinchingly honest and often harrowing, Beautiful Affliction is an inspiring account of growing up and living on the verge of death—and of the beauty, harshness, loneliness, and, ultimately, unbending love that can be found there.
Alice Cary, Bookpage
Lucy Bryan, Rain Taxi Review of Books
Allison Tyler, Off the Shelf
Buzzfeed
Bustle
Mette Ivie Harrison, author of Ironmom and New York Times Notable Book The Bishop’s Wife
Rossandra White, award-winning author of LOVEYOUBYE
Rita M. Gardner, author of the award-winning memoir The Coconut Latitudes
Terri Giuliano Long, author of USA Today bestseller In Leah’s Wake
Laura Nicole Diamond, author of USA Today bestseller Shelter Us
Carol Lynn Pearson, bestselling author, poet and playwright
Laura Pritchett, author of Stars Go Blue and winner of the PEN USA Award
Alice Eve Cohen, award-winning author of The Year My Mother Came Back and What I Thought I Knew
Tré Miller Rodríguez, author of Splitting the Difference: A Heart-Shaped Memoir
Ashley Warner, author of the award-winning memoir The Year After
Paul Cardall, #1 Billboard Pianist & Steinway Artist
Lone Mørch, author of Seeing Red: A Woman’s Quest for Truth, Power and the Sacred
Steven L. Peck, author of The Scholar of Moab and A Short Stay in Hell
Connect with Lene on Goodreads
Click here to read the first chapter, beautifully illustrated on Terri Giuliano Long’s blog
BOOK CLUBS click here for Reading Group Discussion Questions on Beautiful Affliction (NB: Spoiler Alert)
Beautiful Affliction is now available as audiobook!