MY LOUISE: A Memoir

This heartbreaking memoir shows the emotional turmoil that comes when a seemingly ordinary, happy life is suddenly turned inside out. Collins's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was seven months pregnant with their first child and, despite the latest medical interventions, she died when their daughter was two years old. Left a single father to a toddler daughter, following a wrenching few years struggling with his wife against cancer, Collins recounts here pieces of the time before and during the battle, while explaining his attempt to move on with his new life. He draws a beautiful and compelling portrait of Louise and of young Robin, remaining honest about the difficulties that exist in every marriage and parent-child relationship. His own trials are obvious, yet freshly described, and his frank account of the role a husband plays in the terminal illness of a wife is painful but admirable. Perhaps most notable is his evolving perspective on parenting, from the subtle and sad transition as he takes over primary care of Robin when Louise is no longer able, to the time after her death when he is both mother and father, finding he has more in common with other mothers his age than with their husbands. Collins's forceful, absorbing account will resonate with grieving readers. He writes, "The biggest problems seem to solve themselves when they're ready... I think I'll just point myself in the right direction, fold away this picture of my wife and daughter in my heart, and let the adventure continue." (Oct. 15)

FYI:Ontario Review Press was founded in 1974 by Joyce Carol Oates and her husband, Raymond J. Smith.