Epilepsy Books

This book provides an excellent information source for people with epilepsy and offers vital information to help them control their seisures.

I have always had seizures since I was a small child. I had no idea I could do more for myself than take the pills I was given by my doctor. I no longer have seizures since reading this book. I have lost my drivers on occasion due to seizures!!!

The information in this book should be more available to everyone!!! Doctors should be telling people some of the information in this book during their visits. The nutrition section was extremely important to me.

I bought this book back in 1995, and I still use it. It has chapters on foods and chemicals to avoid, exercises, relaxation... It is very helpful and my seizures have lessened. I cannot guarantee if they lessened due to this book, but I think so (o:

I have a completely new life now after reading this book and Treating Epilepsy Naturally by Patricia A. Murphy. These two books have so changed my life that I can hardly believe it. I wish I would have had these books over 20 years ago. But now, I have them and am so grateful. After having a seizure every week I am almost beside myself now that it has been over 6 weeks. And I haven't even tried everything in these books. Just a few. I wish I could give a medal to the authors. I wish I could express my thanks properly. If you have epilepsy or know someone who does, you won't regret reading these books and applying their advice. They are an answered prayer.

In spite of no new edition for ten years, this book is still highly relevent. The information on medication is a bit dated but everything else seems to be timeless.

In a world full of medical miracles people often expect a simple solution to their medical problems; i.e., "take a pill and everything will be alright." With epilepsy that is often not the case. There is so much more to the condition than just seizures. There is so much more to treating the disease than just taking pills. Most physicians are so pressed for time because of managed care and too few specialty providers that they rarely have time during an appointment to discuss the many aspects of epilepsy let alone the finer points of treating it.

This book addresses the many facets of epilepsy and suggests ways that individuals can take control of their disease. Most of the ideas are backed up with anecdotal evidence, but the concepts are extremely cogent and intellectually appealing.

Rather than listing the contents of the book I think it is sufficient to say that the book advocates a holistic approach to the person with epilepsy. I heartily endorse that idea. It will be up to the individual and their family to make that happen. Physicians can help by directing people to resources outside of the traditional "just take your meds" approach. It is good to have a balanced approach to this condition.

I highly recommend this book. It is extremely well written and is a joy to read. Of all of the books I have read on epilepsy (so far), it more than any other paints a broad picture of the disease and advocates a balanced approach (between traditional medicine and alternative methods) to helping the person take control of their disease process.

Mike Henle does a wonderful job describing how he felt before and after his brain surgery experience, his fears of the unknown as to whether his surgery was a success, and trying to educate society on the subject of epilepsy as well. I highly recommend this book to everyone, whether they have epilepsy themselves or not.

Lisa-Marie Kinsman
author of Free at Last, My Lifetime Battle to Overcome Epilepsy

Mike Henle has graciously shared his slow dance with epilepsy. His book encourages the person with seizures;shows the cloud of fear that covers the family and friends; and describes a truly caring as well as gifted medical community. Above all, Through The Darkness gives us all hope.

I have known "Mad Dog" Mike Henle for more than 30 years, as a former sports writing colleague with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and, more importantly, as a dear friend. I have always admired his "dogged" determination in tackling issues. This determination is so reflected in Mike's book. Henle shows how an aggressive "don't-take-no-for-an-answer" persistence, combined with a wife's and family's love and support, and a faith in God can help overcome any obstacle, regardless how steep or severe the obstacle may be. I have two business associates who have read Mike's book. One associate passed it on to a neighbor who has a family member afflicted with epileptic seizures. Mike's book has given that person insight in the afffliction and more significantly hope in seeking a solution to their problem. The book is a great read and a great source of hope.

A true story of Mike Henle's illness and his perseverance in pursuing and effecting a cure for his symptoms. His inspirational story offers motivation and hope for others suffering illness. His perseverance in seeking answers is inspiring. Whatever your illness this is a must read. I read his book in a couple of hours and admired his ability to engage my empathy in his quest.

Through The Darkness is an accurate, touching, and powerful depiction of daily life, living with Epilepsy. While it is written with a compassion that makes it accessable to all readers, it is of special significanse to those of us who also live with Epilepsy. (It is important for us to be reminded that we are not alone.)
I found two chapters that describe the physician and medical staff that assisted Mr. Henle through his Surgery/Recovery particularly meaningful.
"The little guy with the answer", while written about his neurologist, is an accurate description of Epileptologist who has been responsible for improvemensts in my seizure counht and intensity.
"The Greatest Pit Crew On Earth" exemplifies the medical Staff who continue to support Mr. Henle, and myself, through our battles with this disorder.
Thank you Mike, for telling our story in such a powerful way!!!!!

WOW! What a great book! Stephanie tells her story with courage and grace. Her story is the story of everyone who experiences seizures or any disability for that matter. Her honesty and clarity are to be admired. She has hit the nail on the head when it comes to what it is like to live with seizures. I am one of those who can relate to the meaning of seizure confinement. But her book emphasizes the faith and restoration that can come when you act on your personal courage. If you are looking for a book to give you courage to encounter the fear of the unknown then this is the book for you. A MUST READ!!!

As Ms. Sawyers husband, I am repeating my previous review and changing my review up from 4 * to 5* Even since "Facing Me" was published, I have become more aware of the role societal influences, drug effects, and psycho/social effects play in the person struggling with epilepsy. My earlier 4 star (repeated below) allowed room for others to advance the review. They have appropriately done so, and I acknowledge the rightness of the 5 star rating.

For anyone struggling with epilepsy, either as a patient (as my wife) or as someone who loves an epilepsy patient, this is a must read. For anyone affected by a chronic medical condition, either as a patient or as a family member, it is a must read.
For the one carrying the heavy burden, you will hear the voice of one who has "been there." For those of us who deeply love one so afflicted, you will learn much of what it means to be in your partners shoes (something you must learn).
Twenty years ago, we would have given almost anything to hear this story from another. You should listen.

Here is my original review:

"An excellent tale of struggle with epilepsy (which mostly means struggling with society's view of epilepsy) and the self-accepted stigma which often accompanies it. This is not a technical medical story, as much as it is a patients account. As such, it is less involved with precise medical details than "what is it like" to go through metamorphosis. As the tale continues through brain surgery, and the author's effort to understand her place in the world without epilepsy, there is a freshness and genuineness which comes from a patient's point of view, illuminated by her faith in God's active presence.
A great read for anyone with a chronic medical condition, those in relationship with them, and for anyone who could use a dose of hope."

R. Eric Sawyer

Facing Me is the story of Stephanie S. Sawyer's struggle with epilepsy, a medical condition that takes many forms. Stephanie struggles with daily seizures that leave her feeling disoriented, humiliated and depressed. While she struggles to hold her world together, she starts to have a spiritual awakening that gives her the strength she needs to endure societal pressures and being fired from her job.

During a time in her life when she needs the most support, she endures misunderstanding, a lack of support from her community and overwhelming nights of the soul. After undergoing surgery she has new challenges, unexpected surges in her creativity and entire new worlds to explore. She is mentally unprepared for all the changes that start to occur, and as the seizures disappear, an overwhelming depression threatens to undermine all her previous efforts at healing.

Will her faith in God give her the strength she needs to overcome her fear and discouragement? Will the surgery be a success and will she be able to live a fulfilling existence and find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation?

Stephanie S. Sawyer's story is fascinating because she reveals many aspects about epilepsy that are essential for understanding the fear, struggles and discouragement this invasive challenge presents. Stephanie's writing is vivid, inspiring and informative.

Since 181,000 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed each year and ten percent of the American population will experience a seizure in their lifetime, this book is essential reading.

~The Rebecca Review

Facing Me is one of those books that you cannot start without finishing. If you put it down to go to sleep, the first thing you'll do in the morning is pick it up again.
Even if you're not much of a book reader, you'll find yourself clutching Facing Me, which details Stephanie Sawyer's personal struggle with Epilepsy. She displays incredible courage dealing with the disorder, the brain surgery she endured and the post-operative experiences that followed.
Epilepsy is a frightening disorder. It strikes anytime and anyplace. It can leave you exhausted and embarrassed and its threat is something the epileptic never forgets. The epileptic is on-guard every minute of every day attempting to hide a constant concern.
But in spite of the never-ending challenges, the author never gives up. She maintains a positive attitude, refuses to give up and has brain surgery. With the surgery comes depression, a dark and frightening ordeal when the simplest task can be overwhelming.
Five years after the surgery - just as Stephanie was certain her seizure disorder was gone for good - she had another seizure. The thought of another seizure after certain victory had to be devastating, but Stephanie didn't give up. She continued to share her musical talents, graduated from Moores School of Music in 1999 and has proven an incredible inspiration.
I know about Epilepsy and I also know about the surgery. I, too, suffered from the disorder and had the same surgery as Stephanie. That said, I can say first-hand that Facing Me is a phenomenal book written by a spirited and courageous person who has refused to give up against all odds.

Mike Henle, author

I had intended to save Stephanie Sawyer's Facing Me to read on an upcoming road trip, but I made a couple of mistakes. First, I took it out of the box; next, I opened it. Once I did this, I couldn't lay it down. This book is so compelling I had to keep reading. I think everyone at times feels inadequate, but to have had to overcome the stigma that this woman faced as a child and into adulthood, gave me a new insight into how much prejudice hurts. That she should have triumphed over this thing, which was so shameful her own family refused to name it, hiding it and her away until she could be "normal" again, gives hope to all who suffer from being "different," whether it's because of some physical or emotional impairment. Not only has the author overcome her epilepsy, she has used her experience to become the remarkable woman she is today.

This book contains up to date information in relation to the ketogenic diet and other seizure control options that is also easy to read and understand by non professional people.

A great book for healthcare professionals and parents who are planning to use this diet for epilepsy treatment.

I'm interested in unusual therapies, and know someone who has a child with multiple disabilities including a seizure disorder. I found a videotape about this diet at a rummage sale a few years ago, and while it makes the diet sound relatively simple, this book says otherwise and goes into detail about people who are good candidates for the diet and those who are not. Many testimonials and case studies are presented as well.

The woman I know was given this option and said, "We don't want to starve our child." After reading this book, I can see where she was coming from. The restricted calories don't concern me as much as the fluid restriction, which could potentially be very dangerous and the book addresses this problem as well.

For the proper person, this diet could potentially be a lifesaver and it's worth trying if all factors are appropriate.

If you have or know a child with epilepsy, THE KETOGENIC DIET: A TREATMENT FOR CHILDREN AND OTHERS WITH EPILEPSY is a 'must' for your consideration: it offers a solution beyond medication which provides a doctor-supervised diet high in fat and low in carbs and proteins, which limits calories - and is proven to control seizures. There've been many advances in the field, so this updated 4th edition is essential even for library holdings with prior editions. Besides the latest research, this book includes a new section on the Atkins diet and other alternative nutritional therapies. Very highly recommended as a top alternative to medication for kids with epilepsy.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I bought this book for my daughter who has a child with epilepsy. It was very imformative and helpful. Reading the case histories and the mistakes that were inadvertently made, diet-wise, helped us lookout for the same pitfalls. I would highly recommend this book.

Excellent first book after you have received the diagnosis on your child. Good overview. After absorbing this information, you will want to move on to books that deal with the specific type of epilepsy with which your child has been diagnosed.

After hours of internet searching and bookstore browsing with not a whole lot of usable results, finding this book was great. It is clearly written, easy to understand, and covers all of the different causes for seizures, as well as medications and some discussion of the physiology of seizures. I am ordering another copy for my daughter's preschool teachers, who want to be as educated as they can be so that they are prepared for potential seizures at school.

When my 13 year old son had his first seizure, I completely freaked out. When he had a second seizure, I completely lost it and became full of anxiety, fear, and anger. But after reading this book, I found great comfort knowing that all the emotions I had were "normal". The book is also easy to understand, and covers a lot of information which has helped me to become more informed regarding seizures and epilepsy.

I can't begin to describe the grief and fear and utter isolation I felt when my daughter had her second seizure. I remembered that knowledge is power, and I needed to feel powerful. This book gave that to me and so much more! Suddenly terms made sense and I wasn't alone anymore. The section on family coping is amazing: it's as though the authors have reached inside your mind and put down every emotion you've gone through and some that are yet to come. There are case examples throughout that are uplifting, and yes, sometimes a little frightening, but very helpful to read and very enlightening. Most importantly, the book is positive throughout without minimizing what you're dealing with. My only complaint(and this goes for all books, websites, etc) is the use of percentages to illustrate how uncommon different seizure types are, or how many kids outgrow, etc. We already know our kids beat the odds, we don't need to be reminded, and frankly those numbers that in the beginning were a comfort, now are depressing. Again, if a child in your family has seizures, YOU MUST HAVE THIS BOOK!!!

This book contains the answers to most, if not all, of your questions regarding how seizures and epilepsy will affect your child and family. It will also help you know which questions to ask your child's physicians. It is a most complete work. In five sections it describes why seizures occur, diagnosing, treating, coping, and living with epilepsy. Please do yourself a great favor and purchase this book. It is written in language a parent will understand without previous medical knowledge and also it is written with compassion and optimism. I have recommended this book to my family and friends who wish to understand more of how epilepsy is affecting my son's life. You won't be disappointed, buy it today!

This book was excellent. I have epilepsy myself and when I read it, it brought back memories of what happend to me when I was younger. I applaud the parents for showing the support they did for their children!

This book was so helpful to me, as I care for my own epileptic daughter. It is a real look into our lives. I think that this book can help others understand what we go through when we cannot get the seizures under control.

Missing Michael is a wonderful and compelling book. As gripping as their parents' love for their son is the unyielding love and support from Michael's big sister Meaghan. Families will be faced with challenging times and can learn from this Family that has truly persevered. This is an excellent work from author Mary Lou Connolly and should be shared with those you care for.

As a parent and psychiatrist treating people with physical disabilities, I found this book a gripping and compelling account of the trials and tribulations of the Connolly family. I was impressed by the author's candid description of how she dealt with frustration, helplessness, and powerlessness of the life-and-death uncertainties of her son's seizure condition. I applaud her self-disclosure in the service of helping others who face similar challenges, and I recommend this book highly to any parent dealing with their child's illness.

Last night, I sat down and read Missing Michael. The book did not leave my hands until I read the last page. For those that were a part of the Mary Lou and Michael's village, this book is a testament that it takes a lot of people to be a safety net for those that we love and respect. I applaud Mary Lou, Michael,Meaghan and Barry for not shutting out the village. For allowing those near and afar to help when and where needed. For taking the chance to allow others see the vulnerablity, yet the dignity that Micheal possessed (even when He did not always realize it). For me, the best part of the book shares that there are people within our village that do understand and care outnumber by far those that don't. This sharing is a primer to those who are friends, family, co-workers, and care professionals of those with Seizure Disorders. Mary Lou thank you - I have a better understanding because of your words.
I look forward to the sequel where we get to see what Michael's mark on this world is realized.

I thoroughly enjoyed this play. I watched the film awhile back, and since I wanted to change choose different films for my Film Appreciation class, I decided to review the play before adding 'Night, Mother to my list. What a powerful play. It sheds light on a very difficult subject. Jesse, the main character, makes the decision to "get off the bus early" after careful thought. She shows that some people contemplate this critical experience probably more carefully than buying a house or a car. Her decision is hardly spontaneous or emotional, nothing that I imagined at all. The power of the read helped me to decide to buy the video later on. I also ended up buying a collection of Marsha Norman's other plays, hoping that I will duplicate the insight gained by reading this play.

"'night, Mother" is a tour de force conversation between a mother, Thelma, and her daughter, Jessie, who has just told her that she is going to commit suicide at the end of the night. The play is a taut high-wire act that leaves you spellbound as Thelma tries to convince her daughter not to go through with it and Jessie sternly insists. Thelma and Jessie are extremely dimensional, deep characters with an achingly believable relationship. Through the course of their conversation it becomes apparent that there is a yawning chasm between them despite their seeming closeness, and while Thelma thinks that the two can put it right Jessie doesn't believe it -- or want to try. The fierce, emotional back-and-forth between Mother and daughter keeps you on the edge of your seat. The dialogue is very natural and believable, and the playwright, Marsha Norman, displays an extraordinary acuity for what her characters are feeling and have gone through to reach this point. Norman has crafted a devastating portrait of two women that leaves an enormous impact on the reader. I only finished it two hours ago, but I seriously doubt that "night, Mother" will be leaving my thoughts any time soon. Highly recommended -- but keep the Kleenex on hand, just in case.

Marsha Norman's 1983 Pulitizer Prize-winning 'NIGHT, MOTHER is frequently described as a play "about suicide." Although the play does indeed deal with suicide, this is actually a shallow designation; it is about a lot of things, but most particularly control: who has it, who wants it, and the extent a person will go to obtain it.

The play involves two characters: Thelma, an elderly woman, and Jessie, her middle-aged daughter. They have lived together in an isolated house on a rural road for a number of years. Thelma describes herself as "a plain country woman;" she enjoys life in a fundamental way, not expecting more than she already knows, watching television, knitting, nibbling at sweets, and enjoying regular visits from her son and his family. Jessie, who suffers from epilepsy and is divorced, has become something of a recluse, and her life consists largely of managing her mother's home and thinking on the past. One evening, as the play begins, Jessie informs Thelma that she has decided to kill herself right after she gives Thelma her weekly manicure.

Thelma does not take Jessie seriously at first; clearly there have been too many scenes between the two for Jessie's statement to have any real meaning for her. But Jessie is serious indeed, and over the course of an hour and a half the play evolves into a battle of wits, Jessie determined to kill herself, Thelma equally determined to prevent her from it. In the process, we learn quite a bit about the family and their lives and the various emotional and factual secrets the women have hidden from each other over the years.

The play is brilliantly constructed, performed in "real time" without any scene changes or intermission; the characters--and the equally vivid people they discuss but whom we never see--are equally well rendered. There are moments are laughter, even more moments of insight, but the play is progressively intense, progressively dark, with all the power of a noose that slowly tightens around your neck. One of the most fearsome bits of theatre of the past thirty years or so, easily the equal of such legendary works as Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This is one of my favorite plays of all time. it's a great discussion on the issue of suicide. There's one line Ive always remebered: When the daughter is trying to justify the idea that she wants to off herslef, and she uses an illustration of someone riding the bus and riding the bus, and they could just stay on and ride it around the block another round, but why bother. It's really well written, and how the mother and dauther get along is interesting.

*I did not read this, but saw it recently on Broadway at the Royale Theatre.

'night, Mother is a hell of a play. For a two person play, which takes place in real time, it is a moving decent into the demon world of two women, mother and daughter, co-dependents, best friends, enemies, like no other.

Jessie, the daughter is a woman deeply in pain, so much so that her capacity to live has gone, as has her capacity to love. Thelma is her mother, desperately clinging to the one person she loves, whom she needs more and more, and loses sight of more and more.

There were many sobs and sniffles in the audience towards the end of 'night, Mother, and though reading the script is different than seeing it performed by terrific actresses (Edie Falco as Jessie and Brenda Blethyn as Thelma), the story is good enough and in your face enough to do the job.

This is a play about when, if, why and how we stop being parents or kids, and start being our own people, or if that is even possible. Somewhat depressing, but serious and true.

New Horizons and My Angels is a study in triumphant over the author's true life frightening and threatening struggles. The author unselfishly exposes with annotated reality how life was and how her angels caressed her into her new being. With a stunning combination of a gutsy knuckle down determination and the silky graciousness of spiritual insight, the author weaves in and out of medications, surgery, suicide attempts, severe migraines and hallucinations. Her brutal collisions with her own brain and her family conclude in birthing her anew to a fresh meaningful archetype.

Acaysha's story starts with the affliction of epilepsy when she was two. At the age of 25, she was overwhelmed with 22 seizures in one month. Foraging for better answers to the seizure strangulation hold on her, she conferred with the Mayo Clinic. After extensive testing, she was accepted as a good candidate for a complex innovative surgery to remove the damage to her brain. This sparked the beginning of an amazing journey.

After the brain surgery, the author regressed in many ways back to being two years old. As she learned how to climb the ropes of life all over again, she painstakingly and miraculously created a bridge over this crater of emotional pain to get to the other side of her new reality. She goes on to discover a surprising revelation about the seizures. They had served her well as her attention getters and her stress boundary keepers.

New Horizons and My Angels is a megaphone cheering people to wake up and celebrate life no matter your situation. The author has proven that a wee little boat against the mightiest of cruel winds can make it through the storm to witness a dazzling rainbow.

Sherry Russell
Midwest Book Review

"Acaysha takes you on her journey ....an awe-inspiring story of hope and renewal of the human spirit! Her experience provides us a realization that life's challenges are, indeed, our very best teachers..... but only if we really pay attention to the lessons and letting go of those thought patterns of "Why is life so difficult?" and "Why is this happening?"
Acaysha guides us to understand "what is real" and, in the process, we discover a world of majestic beauty... the peace and joy that Dolphins experience.In this world our suffering ends once we shed our "illusions."
Acaysha guides us as her angels guide her. It is in this world where we can meet our very own angels. Thank you, Acaysha, for sharing this wonderful world!"

Lanis Loveday Chidel (Artist/Feng Shui Consultant)

Through the trials and tribulations through life, a woman emerges.A ture friend and angelic being. Many adversities were thrown her way and she emerged victoirious with the help of the powers that be. Her life is a true inspiration. She touches many and heals many souls. I am honored to know her and be her friend. I write this DEDICATION TO ACAYSHA:

SOMEONE WHO IS CARING, FORGIVING, KIND, THOUGHTFUL, GENEROUS, SPECIAL, ANGELIC AND A TRUE FRIEND;
SOMEONE WHO HAS BEATEN THE ODDS AND WAS REBORN;
SOMEONE WHO ACCEPTED CHALLENGES WITH DIGNITY AND GRACE;
SOMEONE WHO WALKS ON FAITH;
SOMEONE WHO HAS TAUGHT ME TO TAKE RISKS;
SOMEONE WHO LIVES LIFE TO THE FULLEST;
SOMEONE WHO TOUCHES THE LIVES OF MANY;
ALL OF THESE THINGS DESCRIBE - - - ACAYSHA.

MANY BLESSINGS,

REV.KAREN WILKINSON

"In her book New Horizons and My Angels, Acaysha, reaches into the very depth of the human emotion and explores the essence of development as it relates to her life as an emotionally underdeveloped victim of epilepsy since age 2. Having corrective surgery at the Mayo Clinic at the age of 26 she was not prepared for her new life that included pain, depression and self-awareness. She is candid and open with her new life struggles and shares her pain with the world in order to help others heal. She takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride as she struggles with her new life without epilepsy but now she has to deal with the reality of pain and how it fits into her new life. She introduces you to her 7 angel guides and straps you into the roller coaster to ride along with her as she travels the bumps, grinds, highs, lows, curves and triumphants of the new life leading to the ending her struggles to be "normal."

"Thank You Acaysha for touching my life so deeply. You are a true angel and a great inspiration. Your book has given much hope and inspiration to keep going, even when the rough is winning. You will touch many hearts and souls with your story - it's a honor to know you and be your friend." Everyone needs to read this book. You are such a courageous lady, a joy to be around and an inspiration for all of us, no matter what we are dealing with !! You story is heart-warming, touching, truthful and inspiring !! Thank you for having the courage to write and tell your story !!

Cris Mazza has for many years now been on the radar of readers who admire technical skill and innovation. Her latest, Waterbaby, demonstrates the same technical mastery of her earlier writings, but adds an imaginative dimension to result in her most satisfying effort to date. She begins, not unusually, with a character flawed in body as well as spirit. Tam suffers from epilepsy and has been tormented since childhood by the memory and consequences of a seizure during a swim-meet. She would have drowned had her athletic brother Gary not saved her--or possibly he selfishly used her to appear the hero, in the process dahsing Tam's own girlhood dreams of athletic excellence. Tam has been haunted by this early memory and its consequences for the long forty-something years before the novel begins. Through another series of mishaps (also perhaps resulting from personal failings) she ends up in the rich setting of a Maine lighthouse, haunted by her memories, by a hard-luck single mom and kid she chooses to harbor, by a distant ancestor she researches, and, finally, by an actual ghost. Mazza pieces the various stories together in a pastiche of different verbal media (including letters, emails, websites, and traditional past tense narrative). So much for the technical mastery, which is accomplished and assured as usual. The great achievement of Waterbaby is the investment the reader comes to feel in Tam, in wanting her to accept/transcend her past and become a more whole person. The magnetism of this main character keeps the many different quirky minor characters, asides, episodes, from eroding reader interest.

"Waterbaby" is somewhat of a departure for Cris Mazza. While she generally sets her stories in Southern California, or at least populates them with people from that region, this novel takes place in a Maine coastal town. The other side of the country though has some similarities to the hardscrabble desert; the landscape becomes a character as much as any person in this novel. The continuity of the rocky shore and lobster industry across generations makes up a large part of the main character Tam's dilemma. As she tries to find her place in her own family, the various family dynamics of past generations intrudes on her psyche as well. The story then incorporates several lost baby stories as Tam investigates her ancestors and her relationships with her family, especially her brother. As in several of Mazza's works, the theme of regret and the conflict that arises from trying to negotiate being a woman play a large role in the novel. Additionally, like other American writers (i.e. Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx, Faulkner), Mazza merges style and place in a masterful way. Family relationships, sex, and self-reliance might be as dangerous as the rocky shore of Maine. Mazza does a wonderful job of portraying these dangers with honesty and engaging storytelling.

What a deliciously conceived novel about personal redemption! The protagonist, Tam, suffers her first epileptic seizure at 12. Her condition will steal her swimming career and estrange her from her brother, Gary. But it will not impede her journey into her troubled family's complicated past, a journey that takes her to the Maine coastline, going back to the early nineteeth century. Here tales of thwarted love and shipwrecked babies haunt the landscape. Tam will unlock more than one story, connecting newspaper acounts, oral history and her own search for understanding until she unfolds a broad historical panorama, a fascinating past. Particularly terrific is Mazza's interweaving of contemporary tools of communication, from websites, to blogs, to email mixed with archival accounts. Reading Waterbaby is a thrilling intertextual adventure that feels immediately ours, but simultaneously layered with a fresh understanding of nineteenth century economic and legal conditions for women and their children. As always, Mazza, is a wise voice, deeply concerned. This novel is a thrilling non stop read.

Filmmaker Werner Herzog has written, "There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization."

Cris Mazza takes this one step further with her seductive book Waterbaby, giving us a protagonist who seeks to create a present by recreating her past -and the possible pasts of her ancestors as well. Tam not only attempts to piece together her ancestor's lives through research and genealogy, she delves into lore so thoroughly she finds herself literally recreating the sea-legends that are intertwined with her own familial history. Mazza is able to juggle the various stories and mix them with imagined pasts and historical pasts, even using the occasional cutaway page of a blog or an electronic archive. Links between legend and historical fact--as well as Tam's personal past and her family's history--begin to accumulate pretty quickly, leaving the reader dazzled by Mazza's ability to keep all the plates spinning without wobble.

All this plus Waterbaby is a funny and compelling page-turner to boot.

The greatest pleasure of "Waterbaby" is the sense of being in the hands of a master storyteller. The voice alone, deceptively simple and straightforward, intrigued this reader to relax and let it take me. This is a rare quality, quite independent of compelling character or driving plot. Yet "Waterbaby" provides characters and plot aplenty. It has been called a ghost story, which it is, even an erotic ghost story; but of a surprising post-9/11 kind. (One character, a search-and-rescue professional, is more than haunted by what he and his search-dog find in the still-burning ruins of the World Trade Center.) In Shakespeare, ghosts are the past penetrating the present. In Mazza the present invades, recreates the past, in every sense. One ghost, Tam, the main character herself, a relatively young (late 40's) retired stockbroker, takes imaginative and spiritual possession of an unremembered, long-dead ancestor who once helped keep a light-house on the dark and stormy coast of Maine. Family is the mysterious presence disturbing Tam - not only the hostile "hero" brother who disappears to pursue her, but all the alien great-great aunts and uncles, grandfathers and grandmothers who never knew her but now will not leave her in peace. Central to her exploration of who they were and how they persist in her are a shipwrecked baby, a newborn found in a toilet, and a drowned woman whom the locals continue to see walking at twilight the light-house rocks. Not the least ghostly of the people leading Tam into her terra incognita is the graveyard lover who insists she play the drowned woman - for prospective renters of the modernized light-house. No one writes with more comic poignance about the guerilla warfare of intimacy between women and men than the author of "Your Name Here_____" and "Is It Sexual Harassment Yet?" But I have long hoped she would enlarge her canvas and here she does: reaching out to the loves and wars of siblings, children, and parents - Maine to California - and 21st century back to 20th and 19th, with assurance, depth, compassion, and inexhaustible, penetrating wonder.

Stacey Chillemi is 32 years old, a mother of three, a wife and writer. Her journey and reason for being is defined each day by the happiness in her children's eyes and the people with epilepsy she has helped through her writing.
By Jenna Martin, Senior Editor
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My name is Donna, and I just want you to know that I bought your book a few years ago and it was very encouraging to me, really did get a lot out of it.
I'd recommend it to anyone else who has E, and their family members who'd want to understand what it's like to live with this condition. It surely does help to know we're not alone in this.

I just finished your book Epilepsy; You're not Alone and thought I'd tell you how much I appreciated it. The positive attitude was very refreshing and a welcome change from the "Why me?" stories that I read so often.

"Life deals us many hard blows that we often don't expect. I admire the fact that someone like Stacey Chillemi was thrown a curve ball that may have knocked many of us down to the point where many of us may not have wanted to get back up, but she did. It wasn't easy but she possesses a determined spirit that won't let her give up. For that reason Stacey will go far and achieve whatever dreams she sets her mind to accomplish."Della Crews
Reporter

Epilepsy is a very hard disorder to live with emotionally, physically and mentally. Epilepsy Your Not Alone, shows you how to cope with the disorder, look at life positively and gives you the inspiration you need to get on with your life. I reccommend it to people who have the disorder,family members and friends.