The Twelfth Raven: A memoir of stroke, love and recovery
Doris Brett
When poet Doris Brett’s fit, healthy, 59-year-old husband had a massive stroke, losing the ability to speak, they were thrown into a journey of discovery.
A golfball-sized blood clot in Martin’s brain was followed by a life-threatening heart condition. Later Brett learned that she carried the potentially deadly BRCA1 genetic mutation.
As a psychologist, Brett was able to access and apply all the latest research on brain plasticity and neurotherapy and her husband confounded his doctors by making an exceptional recovery.
In The Twelfth Raven, Brett calls on her poetic gifts to turn pain into art and provide a mesmerising exploration of life on the edge.
Praise for The Twelfth Raven:
Memorable … provide[s] a space for honest, deep, and crafted reflection on issues that affect us all.
RACHEL ROBERTSON, AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW
She writes authoritatively, with flair, passion, pace and flashes of self-deprecating humour … dramatically place[s] the personal in a wider context.
AGNES NIEUWENHUIZEN, THE AUSTRALIAN
With wisdom, courage and humour, poet and psychologist Doris Brett tackles a harrowing series of medical emergencies and puzzles…This is a literary memoir like no other. An education, and a gripping narrative.
EVELYN JUERS
The Twelfth Raven ... is an important contribution to the literature on several counts – as a resource for others in the same situation, as a warning to be an active patient, and as a moving memoir of single-minded dedication to the well-being of a beloved husband. It is an absorbing, frightening book.
GILLIAN DOOLEY, RADIO ADELAIDE
Brett writes beautifully and infuses her memoir with humour, poetry, recollections of dreams and retelling of myths and legends that not only demonstrate the fragility of life, but offers fellow travellers refuge in her strength.
SARAH MORTON, NSW WRITERS CENTRE
Book details
PUBLICATION DATE: 2014
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 320 pages
SIZE: 234 x 156 mm
ISBN: 9781742585635
RIGHTS: World
CATEGORY: Biography and Autobiography, Book Club Books, Doris Brett, General Non-fiction, Health and Medicine,