PENITENT, WITH ROSES: An HIV+ Mother Reflects

This beautifully written account—winner of the Breadloaf Conference's 2000 Bakeless Literary Publication Prize for Nonfiction—by an author whose short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize is, in part, an exploration of her reaction to being diagnosed with AIDS when her son was only 11 months old (he is now five). The diagnosis came after a series of troubling ear and sinus infections; Peterson was told by her physician that she had probably been HIV-positive for many years (other physicians had previously suggested that something might be wrong with her immune system, but as a married woman, Peterson thought there was no way she could have AIDS). Although she initially fell into a deep depression, the knowledge that her baby (whom she had been nursing) and her husband were both virus-free gave her the impetus for an emotional recovery. She provides here a detailed account of a retreat for women with life-threatening illnesses, where she, as a white Jewish woman, is an "anomaly" among those with AIDS. Having found community through participation in this conference, she now answers the phone for an AIDS hotline in San Francisco and has become a political activist. The second half of this exceptionally moving memoir is a long, graceful letter addressed to her son that she began writing when he was two and a half. Among the anecdotes she shares here are both sad and happy incidents from her own childhood, stories about friends and lovers and how she came to learn that she was a writer. Although Peterson's health is now stable, the fact that her prognosis is "guarded" gives this work a special poignancy. (Aug. 1)

Forecast: There is certainly an audience for this lovely book, if it gets reviewed. Peterson will do local bookstore promotion in San Francisco and New York.