So I've already confessed my morbid interest in books about school shootings. I may have reached a new level of morbidity with my latest book choice, The Truth About Butterflies: it is a memoir about a mother's loss of her only daughter.
The thing is, it isn't just about that. The author, Nancy Stephan, also describes her struggles with losing her own mother, being put into foster care, and dealing with the racism that comes from being interracial. Of course, the majority focuses on the loss of her daughter, Nicole, who was diagnosed with diabetes at an early age and had medical troubles for years after. She details the battles they faced in the hospitals with dialysis and then later when Nicole was put on a ventilator. The book slips in and out of chronological order so you are never really bogged down with the sad, medical stuff or Nicole's death.
I think Nancy wrote with just enough emotion - it wasn't overly sentimental, it wasn't depressing, it was matter-of-fact, detailed, interesting, and yet, you definitely feel the sadness and the bond between this mother and her daughter.
If you don't mind such heavy topics, I do recommend the book. It's a free read on Kindle, so there's an added bonus!
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