I have never written a book review before, but I will try my best.

This book is about Nick Traina, the child born mentally ill- bipolar, manic depression and Attention Deficit Disorder- there were signs, many signs, but no one could help Danielle interpret the signs, signs of the disease that eventually led to his death – suicide…

It is the story of Danielle Steel, a mother, like any mother, has strong instincts that something is truly wrong about her child and someone needs to realize this and give the necessary help, but for 15 years, it remained just that, an instinct gnawing at her, while she spoke to professionals, counselors, teachers and anyone who listened to her, but no one else seemed to pick it.

It is the story of motherhood, loving even when love is not enough, giving your everything until there is nothing more to give, trying everything for the best of your children, but even that everything seems to be nothing,

It is a pro-life story, a life of according dignity to each life, no matter what challenges the children brings,

It is a story of the complexity of mental health problems, some of which is still too complex for me to comprehend,

It is a story of courage, the courage of Danielle Steel to own her story, to let the world get a glimpse of her inner life, her private life, her struggles in life, life that makes us all human,

It is a story of hope, hope that if we give it our all, the we can have the best outcomes,

It is a story of despair, that even when we have given our all, tragedy does strike,

It is a story of our lives. That in life we shall struggle, our struggles will and almost always be different, and in this daily struggles, we will meet friends who will make our lives easy, sacrificing even themselves for our sake, in our life struggles we will make mistakes, in our struggles, we will give our best, in our struggles, we shall have family that act as a fortress for our woes, that our struggles will make us lose people along the way, but somehow, God will always bring us people in our lives for every season,

It is a story of the finality of death, that even when we give our all, to those we love and cherish, even when love is so strong, even when everything seems to be working, eventually death comes to all of us. It is our eventuality.

It is a story of grief, struggling to get over love lost, and immortality, and memories and everything dear.

It is the story of living life, and giving our all, no matter the outcome.

What are my lessons;

Gut instinct; There is something inside of us that tells us when things are not right, when you need to do something about something you cannot even put a finger on. My mother used to say “hyenas walked over your footsteps”, Barbara Taylor says “Listen to your bones, bones don’t lie”. There is just something inside of us that acts as an alarm system when our person-self (mind, body soul), and sometimes it extends to those we love, is in danger.

Do your best: Maya Angelou once said, do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better.

Motherhood: Motherhood calls us to give our all. It is a call to learn to swim from the deep end.