Sarah Nickerson is a very busy, over committed 37-year-old woman, with a very demanding job, husband and three young children.  Her days are exhausting trying to juggle all her responsibilities plus a long commute into Boston from their affluent suburban neighborhood.  In a split second her life changes dramatically.  She is in a car accident when she becomes distracted while on her cell phone.  Sarah suffers from a traumatic brain injury called Left Neglect where nothing on the “left” is perceived, acknowledged or is aware that it even exists (including the left side of her body).   

This then becomes a story of how Sarah, her husband, children and her mother deal and struggle to cope with this type of devastating brain injury and the long and uncertain recovery.  They are forced to take a look at their lives and make changes that they never would have considered prior to the accident.   This has all the mix of what you want in a well-written novel. 

I read Still Alice last year by the same author which I also could not put down.  It is about a professor at Harvard who has early onset Alzheimer’s.  The author has a PhD in neuroscience and the background for providing accurate details about how the brain works, what can go wrong and how people lives are changed by illnesses and injuries.   Add to that she can  write exceptionally well and develops characters that you feel you know or could be your neighbor.  I highly recommend both books. ~Cindy