In Rays of Grace: A Story of Strength & Spirit, Melinda Ferreira writes with great clarity, honesty and passionate good humor about her mother, Marian Ciampa. It is hard not to fall in love with Marian, whose presence and absence fi ll this book. Ferreira lovingly reveals the gifts and the challenges presented to her and her family through the illness and death of her mother. This is an unflinchingly brave book that talks about the pain of losing a mother at the age of 14, while chronicling the author’s own resilience as she anticipates her mother’s death and the shattering of her world. In celebrating the life of a complex and imperfect person, Melinda opens our hearts to her mother while maintaining a writer’s eye for the lessons of loss carried and transformed. Like all great writing, the specifics of one life lead us to a deeper truth that resonates within all of us. An outstanding read.

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