REVIEWS
“Powerful prose with a meaningful and memorable message.”
— Lee Gutkind, Editor: At the End of Life: Essays on How We Die, Founder: Creative Nonfiction Magazine
“How do we go on? This is the fundamental question when we are confronted with losses that seem too great to bear. Eleanor Vincent’s beautifully written memoir, Swimming with Maya, is one woman’s answer. Heartbreaking and heart healing, this compelling story of surviving the death of a child will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book.”
— Ellen Bass, author of The Courage to Heal and The Human Line
“An important addition to the literature of loss and restoration, Swimming with Maya is a harrowing tale of mother love, grief, and the gradual reclamation of a daughter’s life through acceptance of her death.”
— Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and author of Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery
“I was riveted by Eleanor Vincent’s moving tale of death and redemption. Every mother of a strong, independent child will find this memoir illuminating. And every reader who has had to deal with traumatic loss will find wisdom and healing in these brave pages.”
— Chana Bloch, author of Mrs. Dumpty and Blood Honey
“In this riveting, poignant, and utterly honest memoir, Eleanor Vincent demonstrates the remarkable process of healing after the traumatic death of her daughter, Maya. This wonderfully written book can inspire anyone facing life’s painful events and challenges. It shows that one can recover from the loss of a child.”
— Judy Tatelbaum, author of The Courage to Grieve and You Don’t Have to Suffer
“Swimming with Maya blows the reader away with its clarity, its unstinting honesty, and the searing accuracy of its vision of the medical and emotional complexity surrounding the tragic death of a young woman. It will be valuable not only to those considering organ donation, but to any psychologically aware parent struggling with the illusion of control it so movingly describes. Highly recommended.”
— John Ruark, MD, FACP, author of Dying Dignified
“Thoughtful, honest, and beautifully written, Swimming with Maya chronicles a remarkable friendship between a grieving mother and the man who is alive because her daughter’s heart beats in his chest. This book grabs the reader, not only because of this extraordinary aspect, but also because of the parts that are common to all parents. It is, above all, a fabulous story about what it means to be a mother.”
— Wendy Lichtman, author of Blew and the Death of the Mag and Secrets, Lies and Algebra
“In this powerful book, past and present weave together in strong, uplifting prose. Eleanor Vincent brings us inside her daughter’s ‘life after death’ as we see Maya’s heart beating in the body of a man who is alive because of her sudden death. Life trumps death in this beautiful memoir.”
— Linda Joy Myers, author of Don’t Call Me Mother—A Daughter’s Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness, and Power of Memoir