Blue Sky July: A Mother's Story of Hope and Healing

by Nia Wyn

Book Overview

“It’s the strangest time—a birth—for life to start falling apart.” Set between the summers of 1998 and 2005 in Cardiff, Wales, Blue Sky July follows the story of Nia Wyn, a mother who battles against impossible odds to heal her son after he suffers a brain injury and is diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy. Told by doctors that her son would never walk, talk, see or even recognize her, Wyn devotes her every waking moment to exploring alternative treatments...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525950834
• ISBN13: 9780525950837
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 197 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A very poweful memoir

I agree with other reviewers she does write like prose poetry. I really like her writing style. I had read about half of it when I needed to put it down for a while--taking care of my own family, working etc. When I picked it up this afternoon I found myself almost done reading it. Shortly after supper tonight I picked up and finished it! It brought a lot of love and insight to a very tough situation. As a mother of a child with special needs, this book is written very well. The author takes you on a journey as the title says, A mother's story of hope and healing. Thank you to Nia Wyn for her lovely book.

Hard to put down.

This story grabs you from the first stanza. Even if you don't normally read stories of this nature, her prose is so like poetry when she so succinctly describes her pain and struggles with the most beautiful turns of phrases. Not to say it's an easy read because of the subject matter. A very inspirational and very beautiful story indeed.

An Affirmation For Me

It was such serendipity to find this amazing book. For me, finding it, reading it was a long over due affirmation, one 4 years in the making as my own precious son has very mild CP. My son is my miracle baby, and like Joe he is doing just great, but 4 yrs ago from the moment he took his first breath it was like I landed upon another planet. There were no other mothers and babies like us, no "mommies" play groups for us, just endless therapies, pity and patronizing comments - that was our world. I was terrified, but somehow I never gave up hope, and rightfully so. Reading this amazing and lovely book was like going back and watching myself - understanding and feeling everything - finally the affirmation, the connection I needed so much back then. Thank you for writing this beautiful and powerful book. Every parent, whether your child has CP or not, would find this book inspirational and uplifting.

Poignant

I picked this book up off the shelf expecting to just peruse it for a few minutes. Two hours later I got up off the floor after finishing, and headed for the cash register. Others have summarized it better than I, but I just have to say two things. First, because it is her diary and written when she was actually going through it all, everything has this raw, unfiltered edge to it. If she had written the whole journey looking back at it, I don't think it would have been nearly as powerful. As it is written however the impact is huge. Which brings me to my second observation, sometimes she switches into snatches of poetry. It's like her brain just couldn't handle the starkness of prose a second longer and suddenly it had to switch to poetry for a few seconds just to handle the magnanimity of the situation. It is both heartbreaking and uplifting. I laughed. I cried. It was brilliant.

Uplifting and beautiful.

I was nervous of reading this book because of the subject matter. I didn't want to read a book about hardship, pain and the agony of having a child with CP. But I did read it, and I did love it. Nia Wyn has a rare gift with words and instead of finding the book gloomy and depressing, I found it lyrical, uplifting and full of hope. I would urge anyone who thinks this is NOT their kind of read to give it a chance. I found it truly inspiring.