Nancy Stephan

Beautiful moving story about a mixed race child, whose mother died when she was 8, was moved to a foster home because she looked black and her white close family couldn't protect her from the racism in their neighborhood. She became pregnant with Nicole when she was 14, adopted by the foster family so she could keep Nicole. Nicole was a brittle diabetic, who died of diabetes related complications when she was 26. The author described their faith and her journey through grief.

Maybe I’m just nitpicking, and that’s fine if I am, but I didn’t really get why the book was called The Truth About Butterflies when butterflies didn’t make any appearance until the very end.

I didn't love this book, but it wasn't anything the author did. I read books because I want happy endings and an escape from real life. This book was the real life that I am hiding from. The story was well written, and it was easy to read...the topic was the difficult part for me.

This is a story about a mother who was grieving the loss of her only child. Nancy's daughter, Nicole had been suffering from juvenile diabetes since age 8. The story begins while Nancy is making preparations to show more move Nicole to a hospice. Nancy begins to open up to the reader what a typical day in her life was like. The hospital trips, the talks with her daughter, her fears and her faith that GOD can heal and restore her only daughter to her. It was sad, yet gripping. It was honest, yet brutal at times. It was painful, yet encouraging.

This book felt like how I would imagine watching a woman trying not to drown (I've never actually seen anyone drown) and actually surviving. It was hard for me as a new mother but I was amazed at her faith in God. I recommend this book to anyone who has faced a loss or tragedy and they need someone to let them know that they will make it. Sometimes you need to hear that and I think this book is one of those encouraging voices.

The parts of the story that I really enjoyed was learning of her upbringing. I found myself laughing when her friend told her that she wasn't black or white, she was a "mixperado". Kids have such cute ways of looking that the world. I liked her foster mother, Erma Lee. She really handled Nancy with the best care she could, given what she had. I could imagine people talking with the southern drawl and dilect that would lead to the pronounciation of Cirrhosis as "sir-roaches". Her childhood was hard, especially being a ward of the state, but it built up the spirit of a survivor.
I think that is the lesson the author was trying to impart. We can weather the hardest storms of life, if we hold on to our faith.

*I was given a copy of this book by the author Nancy Stephan" show less

A sensitive memoir of a mother's struggle to deal with her daughter's diabetes and her daughter's untimely death.