And Still She Laughs: Defiant Joy in the Depths of Suffering

Merrick, speaker and pastor’s wife, details the harrowing journey of caring for her young daughter Daisy from a cancer diagnosis in 2009 until her eventual death in 2013. Speaking from the heart, she regales just how profound her suffering was at each stage of her young child’s cancer battle, and how God revealed Himself to her along the way. In telling her story and pain, Merrick has created an accessible, heart-wrenching primer on dealing with the worst life has to offer that is equally poignant and inspirational. Not confined to sadness, Merrick is also often funny, and her comical antics bring some needed lightness to this heavy topic. Readers will find their own way through grief as Merrick points out the power of small lights of hope found in everyday joys. True to her subtitle, she is defiant in finding courage, hope, and a stalwart trust in God as she continues to feel the loss of her daughter. Merrick’s deeply personal story will be great medicine for the brokenhearted, downhearted, and downtrodden. (Mar.)