In loving memory of my mom, Francella Corsi, my mother-in-law, Claire Staub, and my aunt, Frances Ginsberg, all of whom were lost to our family at a young age to breast cancer.

Every author has a tale of the heart: ignited in heartfelt emotion, demanding to be told. A few Decembers ago, grieving the unbearable loss of my mother to breast cancer at 63, I wrote mine. Clara, the heroine of IF ONLY IN MY DREAMS, was inspired by my mom’s stalwart hope in the face of adversity.

Aware no editor would consider it until January, I asked my agent to submit it anyway. The next day, I flew up to my hometown to face my first Christmas without my mom. Walking into my childhood home, I fell apart. Mom’s joyful spirit that always embodied the holidays was gone. Never again would there be a perfect gift chosen just for me out of maternal love.

But Christmas is a season of miracles. Minutes after I arrived, my phone rang with unexpected news: just 24 hours after submission, my agent had a publisher’s offer! Somehow I knew my mom had given me one last Christmas gift. And now, I pass it on to you: a book that is truly from my heart.

But It Now
Published: NAL, October 2007 (reissue)
$4.99

Click here to read about how Wendy finds comfort in signs that her mother and mother-in-law are still with her.

Click here for pics

http://www.breastcancer.org/
www.supportconnection.org
www.komen.org
http://cancer.battlingforhealth.com/2008/03/cancer-in-the-news/