by Lene Fogelberg
Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Blog
Twitter @lenefogelberg
Just released: September 15, 2015
Publisher: She Writes Press
Genre: Memoir
Paperback: 352 pages
Rating: 5
First sentence(s):
There was this photograph, a small piece of paper, which disappeared a long time ago, maybe hiding in a box in my parents' attic or some old forgotten album.
Lene Fogelberg is dying and she is sure of it, but no doctor in her home country of Sweden believes her. While Lene is battling with the unnerving feeling of death, a love story enfolds her with the man who will become her husband, enchanting surroundings, and later, her two beautiful daughters. Although Lene is overwhelmed with happiness she can’t help but think—Will I die young?—a question that she has carried in her heart since childhood that threatens her sanity and everything she holds close to her.
However, when her young family moves to the United States, her relentless question is finally answered, a diagnosis. Lene is in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease that has gone undetected. But is it too late?
Courageously honest and often harrowing, Beautiful Affliction delves into the inspiring account of growing up and living on the verge of death while finding bravery, love and beauty along the way.
My two-bits:
Lovely memoir about a woman's experience with a heart murmur - the ups, the downs, but mostly the uncertainties.
At times it felt like a comfy read with romantic and family loving going on.
Also there are moments that pull at the heartstrings (keep with tissue box handy).
It was interesting to learn a little about the healthcare system in Sweden.
About the author:
Fogelberg went on to study Foreign Languages at the University of Gothenburg: among them English and French as well as Literature and Creative Writing. She also studied German in Germany and Creative Writing at the Stockholm Academy of Writing.
Always curious, Fogelberg has embraced opportunities to study and live abroad, in France, Germany and the USA. Shortly after moving to the US it was discovered, by luck of circumstances, that she was in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease. Within weeks she underwent two life-saving open-heart surgeries and began the long battle of recovery. Now she is well and grateful for every day with her husband and two daughters. She is currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia.
An award-winning poet in Sweden, Fogelberg has always felt drawn to writing in English and switched language when writing the memoir BEAUTIFUL AFFLICTION, to be published by She Writes Press 2015.
Fogelberg is now working on a novel taking place in Jakarta.
WIN a copy of this book!
Open to US only.
Offer ends: September 30, 2015
TO DO: (2-parts)
1. ADD this book to your Want To Read list on Goodreads.
2. LEAVE a comment.
AND, leave your email.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Contest has ended - (winner is here)
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
* review copy courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2015 (details) @booksparks #FRC2015
