Cocoon of Cancer: An Invitation to Love Deeply

Love and intimacy inspire this book as well as inform those diagnosed with cancer, their caregivers, families, and staff. The essays and poems reflect an attitude of wonder, defiance, acceptance, and beauty through the painful journey. Sometimes raw, the letters to friends voice the unspeakable. The scientific tone of Jim, the patient, comes through when he has the energy to speak. His wife and caregiver, Abbe, witnesses and documents the signs of distress, gains, losses, and the new equilibrium that forges deep love. More than anything, this is an invitation to feel and find comfort. "Caregiver Tips", "Questions I Still Ponder", and "Questions for the Reader to Ponder" are included at the end of the manuscript.

Author: Abbe Rolnick, Jim Wiggins
Publisher: Sedro Publishing
Published: 01/14/2016
Pages: 118
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.27lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.25d
ISBN: 9780984511938

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2016

About the Author
Abbe Rolnick grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. Her first major cultural jolt occurred at age 15 when her family moved to Miami Beach, Florida. To find perspective, she climbed the only non-palm tree at her condo complex and wrote what she observed. History came alive with her exposure to Cuban culture. After attending Boston University, she lived in Puerto Rico, where she owned a bookstore.

River of Angels flows from her experiences in Puerto Rico and is the first novel in her Generations of Secrets series. She continues with Color of Lies, bringing the reader to the Pacific Northwest where she presently resides. Here she blends stories from island life with characters in Skagit Valley. The third in the series, Founding Stones was recently published and continues with characters from her two previous novels. Her readers describe the series as "deep and meaningful," with "complex relationships" that "transport you to a different place" with "a plot worthy of the cedar-scented NW atmosphere."

Her recent experiences with her husband's cancer inspired Cocoon of Cancer: An Invitation to Love Deeply, a love story that shares intimate tips for caregivers and family. Tattle Tales: Essays and Stories Along the Way is a compilation of twenty years of writing. These two books show a "skill for writing that brings a cluster of sunshine through the dim of darkness," where "you can feel the author's presence."

An avid world traveler, Abbe can be found with her husband Jim in Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, and other exotic countries when they aren't at their home amid twenty acres in Skagit Valley, Washington, or visiting with her grown children and grandkids.

To learn more about her writings, Abbe's Notes and Abbe's Ruminations, visit her website, www.abberolnick.com. Abbe welcomes questions and requests for speaking engagements, and would love to hear from you.