A Flower beneath the Cracks: A Memoir (Helen Sage, Affirm Press)

One evening, Helen Sage’s 22-year-old daughter Jayne is involved in a near-fatal car accident. The family’s lives are immediately transformed as the full extent of Jayne’s brain injuries is revealed. Suddenly, Jayne has gone from being a spirited, adventurous young woman with a bright future to one living in very different circumstances. Sage doesn’t flinch in her description of her daughter’s coma, her numerous therapies, and the daily battle Sage has to communicate with her daughter. Sage writes openly about her struggles as a mother, wife and carer, and reflects on some of the larger questions about life and spirituality as she deals with Jayne’s recovery. Jayne’s voice is extraordinary as she starts to speak and then to write about what it feels like to be trapped inside her body and brain. Her surprising humour, thoughts and observations are incredibly powerful and offer the reader precious insight into her life. A Flower between the Cracks is a poignant account of a mother’s love and a daughter’s spirit in the face of adversity, and will have wide appeal.

Sarina Gale is a freelance writer and bookseller at the Sun Bookshop in Yarraville

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Category: Reviews