Looking Up

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. (c.1959). First Edition. Hardcover. (price-clipped) [good sound copy, light shelfwear, very slight bumping to corners; jacket a bit faded at spine, one short closed tear and associated minor creasing at bottom of front panel, another short closed tear at top of rear panel]. A "gay, lighthearted book" by a 36-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with polio at the age of 27, an affliction which left her paralyzed from the neck down and confined to an iron lung -- but "went bravely on to make a home for her children, face her troubles with high good humor, and learn to live with the true spirit of religion." (This in spite of having been divorced by her husband.) The book's tone is primarily cheerful and upbeat, although in the words of one reviewer, "she does manage to occasionally convey the anger at her fate and the anguish of her spouse’s betrayal; occasionally she is downright cutting, and those bits are a relief, because otherwise this woman’s saintliness and fortitude would be much too good to be true." The latter part of the book makes much of the strength she derived from her Catholic faith. Alas, she died just three years after the publication of this book, of complications from gall bladder surgery. A surprisingly scarce book. . (Inventory #: 26230)