The Life You Longed For: A Novel

By Maribeth Fischer

Book Overview

Grace's son, Jack, is a miracle. At three years old, he is fighting a mysterious and deadly disease that doctors predicted would kill him as a baby. Everyone around the family credits Grace's blind dedication with helping Jack survive. But perhaps not everyone. Grace's world is upended when she discovers that she's under investigation for Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a psychological disorder whereby a mother makes her otherwise healthy child sick in order to gain approval and attention for herself. Soon Grace is in a constant state of suspicion - of every doctor, nurse, friend, acquaintance...and even her husband. And the private secrets she has kept finally come to light. The Life You Longed For is gripping, suspenseful, and the definition of a page-turner - readers will want to skip to the end to figure out if the accusations are true. By mixing this controversial topic with endearing characters and a delicately layered plot, Maribeth Fischer has established herself as a voice to be reckoned with among today's finest women writers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743293282
• ISBN13: 9780743293280
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Touchstone
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

This would make a great movie!

I literally could not put this novel down. It grabs you on page one and never lets you go, never lets you relax. It procedes with high emotional intensity to the end. This is a novel that teaches -- about mitochondrial disease, about Munchausenn's, about the failings of the child protective system in this country, and about our own human failings. It does so in an extremely well-crafted story. I read it wide-eyed and...

To honor Maribeth Fischer

I have never known anyone accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP), a specialized attempt to harm a child, nor have I known a child who has suffered Mitochondrial Disease. Maribeth Fischer took me into the life of one such family on Christmas Eve in the year 2000 in her book The Life You Longed For. The story of how the family, friends, acquaintances, state agencies, and courts treated a mother accused of intentionally...

Between a rock and a hard place: mothering a sick child

In "The Life You Longed For," Maribeth Fischer exquisitely captures the fierceness born out of necessity of mothering a sick child that everyone but the mother has given up on. By it's very nature, mitrochondrial disease is elusive in diagnosis, perplexing in symptoms and frustrating to doctors who cannot seem to stop it's inexorable progress. The Connolly's finally have a diagnosis for their three year old son, Jack but one...

The Life You Longed For: A Novel

The reviewers who have called this book an "exploration" are right on target. I was a little disappointed to see the number of jacket blurbs from authors who are women because I thought it may have suggested that this is a woman's book, and it is no more necessarily a woman's book than Job is necessarily a man's book. Both books feature a central character whose life is animated by unconditional love and devotion; in both...

Pick this for your book club

The Life You Longed For is an awesome book for a book club because it has a good story and also teaches you a lot as you read it. Along side the exciting drama of a mom accused of making her child sick to gain attention, the author weaves in intriguing historical facts about the Salem witchcraft trials. She connects how the community of Salem accused women of being witches when it couldn't explain unfortunate events, like...