Life Lines

In Life Wish (1984), a book considered inspirational by some readers, Ireland, the actress wife of Charles Bronson, recounted her struggle to survive cancer. Now she relates other tragedies that threatened at times to overwhelm her, writing with frequently mawkish emotionalism. Ireland describes her earlier marriage to actor David McCallum and their family of three sons, one of whom, Jason, was adopted at birth from a teenaged mother. Jason's differences were noticed relatively early, especially once the McCallum children joined Bronson's household and progeny, but in Bronson's Bel Air mansion, buzzing with activity, Jason's addictive personality was at first obscured. The painful journey of mother and son through his recovery from and relapses into alcoholism and drug dependency found a turning point with the intervention of Jason's natural mother and Ireland's acknowledgment of his problems. Concurrently, tragedy strikes in the steady physical deterioration of Ireland's father, rendered speechless by a stroke. Her frank account of adversity endured is tempered by characteristic ebullience. (Apr.)