Friday, March 20, 2009

My Daughter, Myself


Twenty-five years ago, my husband, Ronnie, and I received the call that every parent dreads. Our daughter, Lynne, had been in a car accident. A careless boy driving too fast on a country road. He walked away, but she was rushed to the nearest emergency room. Thus began our summer from hell, but, at the end of it, after suffering multiple fractures, she healed and returned to college. My friends told me to write a book about it. But it was too raw, painful, and, besides, it was Lynne’s story to tell, not mine. She went on with her life, a law degree, marriage, two children, later a doctorate in English literature, a teaching job. A life of her own in New York. A great life!
Three summers ago, that long ago accident came back to haunt her. And eventually, she did write a book about it. It’s not a book for children. But it is non-fiction –The Body Broken A Memoir. The pub date from Random House is next Tuesday, March 24. She will be on Good Morning America that day and then come home to St. Louis to celebrate her book with family and friends. I wanted to tell you about it. Perhaps you or your family or a friend are dealing with chronic pain and you might want to share her story. I wish she’d been able to write a different book, a different story. But I am so proud of her.

“We are all looking for lessons in courage. And family. And faith that some of our sweetest hours will come on the darkest days. All are here in Lynne Greenberg’s razor-sharp memoir of life and pain and the miracle of a family bound together by love.”
—Diane Sawyer, ABC News

“Greenberg’s memoir is unsparing, accurate and moving.”_ Maxime Kumin, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

2 comments:

Susan E. Goodman said...

Congratulations Jan, to you and your daughter. But I'm sorry you all had to suffer so much for the achievement.

Jan Greenberg said...

Thank you so much, Susan, for you kind words. Lynne has taught our family the meaning of the expression "to make lemonade out lemons."