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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>The true story of a young woman's struggle to raise a family while her body slowly deteriorates as the result of an undetected fatal heart disease.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER<br>GOLD MEDAL WINNER OF THE 2016 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS ("IPPY")</b> <p/>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--<i>Will I die young?</i>--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? <p/>A young woman risks everything to save her own life in this "unusual, riveting medical drama crafted with deep emotion and exquisite detail" (BookPage).<br><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"Fogelberg, a poet, structures her saga well, writing in alternating chapters about growing up with her 'monster, ' and arriving in the United States, where her condition is diagnosed and she has corrective open-heart surgery. Beautiful Affliction is an unusual, riveting medical drama crafted with deep emotion and exquisite detail."<br> --BookPage <p/> "In her breathtaking memoir, <i>Beautiful Affliction</i>, Lene Fogelberg elegantly unites the savagery and raw beauty of the natural world with the wisdom and poignant insight of a young wife and mother for whom each moment, whether or not she realizes it, may be her last. Exquisite imagery and poetic prose pulse through this powerful, emotionally gripping story. With Beautiful Affliction, Lene Fogelberg gives us a gorgeously written story to savor and share, while adding her shimmering, deeply intelligent voice to the literary pantheon."<br> --Terri Giuliano Long, author of <i>USA Today</i> bestseller <i>In Leah's Wake</i> <p/> "Gripping, powerful, touching, beautiful. A memoir about a woman who fights to remain alive because of her daughters and her husband. A story everyone can relate to and will want to read to the inspiring end."<br> --Mette Ivie Harrison, author of Ironmom and <i>New York Times</i> Notable Book, <i>The Bishop's Wife</i> <p/> "<i>Beautiful Affliction</i> is an important and beautiful book about the ways in which our health impacts our lives, and the courage, strength, and healing that can result with persistence. A wonderfully honest and sincere memoir."<br> --Laura Pritchett, author of <i>Stars Go Blue</i> and winner of the PEN USA Award <p/> "Lene Fogelberg's story is breathtaking in all the right ways--delicately and skillfully told--and a powerful reminder that life is fragile and can only be lived one breath at a time."<br> --Carol Lynn Pearson, bestselling author, poet, and playwright <p/> "Lene Fogelberg's memoir will have even the most doubtful believing in miracles. Honest, unapologetic, inspiring, <i>Beautiful Affliction</i> is ultimately a testament to the sustaining power of love."<br> --Ashley Warner, author of the award-winning memoir <i>The Year After</i> <p/> "<i>Beautiful Affliction</i> is a deeply moving and important memoir about a young woman fighting for her life against all odds. It's a suspenseful page-turner and also the work of a poet. Fogelberg's physical heart is shutting down, even as her emotional heart is filled to bursting with love--for her husband and two little girls, for her whole world that may vanish in an instant. Her breathtaking odyssey will remind the reader of the beauty, fragility, and ephemerality of life. I absolutely love this book. It was an inspiration to read, and it will stay with me for a long time."<br> --Alice Eve Cohen, award-winning author of <i>The Year My Mother Came Back</i> and <i>What I Thought I Knew</i> <p/> "Lene Fogelberg's inspiring memoir of life with a literal broken heart teaches us to recognize beauty amidst our own pain and suffering. Having also experienced complicated heart issues and a lifetime of surgeries I found myself reliving my own sacred experience."<br> --Paul Cardall, #1 Billboard Pianist & Steinway Artist <p/> "Fogelberg has crafted a literary and beautifully compelling story, which is much more than a medical mystery. It is a heartfelt and touching story about a mother who loves her husband and children and struggles with the thought of leaving them behind. Her efforts to give them a sense of her love and how she wants that love to be remembered is what makes this book a magnificent memoir that I will be thinking about for a long time."<br> --Steven L. Peck, author of <i>The Scholar of Moab</i> and <i>A Short Stay in Hell</i> <p/> "Fogelberg's poetic sensibility shines... Vivid, heartfelt, and carefully crafted, this memoir will resonate with readers. <i>Beautiful Affliction</i> is more than an illness narrative; its meditations on mortality will appeal to all who love the fragile and impermanent."<br> --Lucy Bryan, <i>Rain Taxi Review of Books</i><br>

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