Sue Stern

Broschiertes Buch

THE CHILD WHO SPOKE WITH HER EYES

A Mother's Spiritual Journey with Her Disabled Child

Beschreibung

This is the story of love overcoming tragedy, of a beautiful child who cannot speak but who communicates with her eyes. A 'Call the Midwife' story - Northern style! When Sue and Sid Stern learn in July 1967 that their beautiful baby, Vanessa has cerebral palsy and will be profoundly disabled, they are stunned and heartbroken. But even as she receives the devastating diagnosis from Doctor Ben Epstein, Sue has a deep certainty that this baby was destined to come to her, and she's fired with a resolve to do everything in her power to enable Vanessa to grow and develop like any child. This awareness and determination carry Sue through the difficulties of feeding a child with a tongue thrust, who cannot raise her head, who can neither use her hands nor sit in a chair, who speaks only with her eyes. Days, months and years devoted to teaching and helping Vanessa bring small but significant victories, for when Vanessa is four, a speech therapist tells Sue that she has the language development of a two-year-old although she is unable to utter a word. And Vanessa is beautiful, with light gold hair, luminous blue eyes surrounded by a fringe of black lashes, a perfect little nose, an all-embracing smile, and she loves being the centre of attention. In this memoir, a work of deep reflection and expert storytelling, Sue also invites readers into the world of other families with disabled children that she and Vanessa meet at physiotherapy sessions, and later in 1971, forced to spend many weeks in St Mary's Maternity Hospital Manchester, awaiting her second child, she listens the stories of the pregnant women she meets, their heartbreak and their joys, and becomes a friend Unique to this account is the depiction of life in a subnormality hospital - institutions for the severely subnormal or 'ineducable' that happily exist no longer. In 1975, with two little boys in tow, the Sterns make the devastating decision to send their daughter, aged eight, into residential care, and only Cranage Hall Hospital for the Subnormal, in Cheshire, will accept such a disabled child. Sue is devastated, but over time, Vanessa settles, and makes astonishing progress in the wonderful Woodlands School, situated in the grounds. Finally, this is an account of a spiritual journey Sue makes with Vanessa as she explores her Jewish roots and discovers extraordinary insights into their lives together. Engrossing, compelling and uplifting, a gift for every reader (men and women!); for people fascinated by life in the 60s and 70s; for community physicians and social workers, for anyone with a family problem - all will find humour and comfort in The Child Who Spoke with Her Eyes.

Autor

Sue Stern was born in London but has lived in Manchester since she was five. She has kept diaries from the age of twelve and these, plus an outline of Vanessa's life written in 1978, provided rich material for this memoir. She has published poetry and short fiction in literary magazines in Britain and America. Her poems have won or been placed in several international competitions including: the Bridport Prize, The Yorkshire Post Poem for Peace and the annual poetry contest of Lilith, a New York Jewish feminist journal. 'Babyday', her first novel, with its touch of magic realism, was long listed in the Myslexia novel competition 2009 and will appear in 2020. Deeply affected by her radical upbringing, Sue often explores themes of alienation in her work, as seen in her forthcoming historical novel: 'How I Broke Mama's Commandments', set in Edwardian London and inspired by the life of her Russian anarchist grandmother. Sue gained an MA in novel writing from the prestigious Writing School, at Manchester Metropolitan University, and then published a middle-grade novel, 'Rafi Brown and the Candy Floss Kid' 2102 A large print version of this was produced by the Royal National Institute of the Blind, and The Child Who Spoke with Her Eyes is currently being considering for their adult library. Sue has taught EFL and French, and courses in 'Jewish and Muslim women's Life and Lifestyle',and Jewish Literature, in the Continuing Education Department of Manchester University www.suestern-writer.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/suesternwriter

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Red Bank Books
• Seitenzahl: 354
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. September 2019
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 203mm x 133mm x 21mm
• Gewicht: 446g
• ISBN-13: 9780957494817
• ISBN-10: 0957494815
• Artikelnr.: 57816587