Little Matches

<p><strong>Gripping and true in all ways. This fine affecting memoir will stay with me for a very long time.--Meg Wolitzer author of <em>The Female Persuasion</em></strong></p><p><strong>In this vividly written memoir novelist O'Hara shares a painful but ultimately beautiful account of her daughter Caitlin's life with cystic fibrosis. . . . Her compelling story will resonate with anyone seeking a light in the darkest depths of grief.--Library Journal</strong></p><p><strong>In the vein of <em>The Year of Magical Thinking</em> and <em>Beautiful Boy </em> an emotionally raw and inspiring memoir that illuminates a mother's grief over the loss of her adult child and considers the hope of soulful connections that transcend the boundary of life and death.</strong></p><p>When their only child was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of two Maryanne O'Hara and her husband were told that Caitlin could live a long life or be dead in a matter of months. Thirty-one years later Caitlin lost her battle with this devastating disease following an excruciating two-year wait on the transplant list and a last-minute race to locate a pair of healthy lungs. </p><p>The sudden spiral of events left Maryanne in an existential crisis searching to find an answer to the eternal question: Why we are here? During her final years Caitlin had become a source of wisdom and comfort for her mother--the partner with whom she shared a deep spiritual quest to understand what it meant to have a soul. After Caitlin's passing Maryanne began to notice signs--poignant persistent synchronicities that seemed to lean toward proof of Caitlin's enduring presence.</p><p>Weaving together a series of interconnected meditations with illuminating glimpses of life rendered via text messages e-mails and journal entries <em>Little Matches</em> is a profound reflection on life and death motherhood the pain of chronic uncertainty and finding inspiration in the unexpected sparks that light our way through the darkness.</p>