FREE BOOK FRIDAY is here! Select a free book at checkout with every order. Find out more

'Her story is intimate and revealing about what it is to smile and what it means when you can't' Cynthia Nixon

With a play opening on Broadway, and every reason to smile, Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high-risk pregnancy when she discovers the left side of her face is completely paralyzed. She is assured that 90 percent of Bell's palsy patients experience a full recovery, like her own mother.

But Sarah is in the unlucky ten percent. And for a woman, wife, mother, and artist working in theatre, the paralysis and the disconnect between the interior and exterior brings significant and specific challenges. So she begins an intense decade-long search for a cure while simultaneously grappling with the reality of her new face - one that, while recognisably her own, is incapable of accurately communicating feelings or intentions.

Smile is Ruhl's piercing, witty, lucid chronicle of her journey. She explores the struggle of a body yearning to match its inner landscape, the pain of postpartum depression, the story of a marriage, being a playwright and working mother to three small children, and the desire for a resilient spiritual life in the face of illness. Brimming with insight, humility, warmth and humour, Smile is a triumph: an intimate examination of loss and reconciliation, and above all else, the importance of perseverance and hope in the face of adversity.

More Information
ISBN/EAN 9781529113167
Author Sarah Ruhl
Publisher Vintage
Publication date 29 Sep 2022
Format Paperback
Write Your Own Review
You're reviewing:Smile : The Story of a Face

Smile : The Story of a Face

The extraordinary story of one woman's ten-year odyssey that brought her physical, creative, emotional, and spiritual healing.

Estimated delivery in 1-5 working days
Read more about our shipping and delivery