Alice and Me: How My Struggle With Cancer Mirrored My Protagonist’s
The author reflects on her experience with breast cancer, which mirrored the struggles of her fictional character, Alice. After receiving a diagnosis of the same type of cancer as Alice, she grapples with the emotional and existential implications of her situation. The narrative explores the challenges of facing cancer and the connection between the author's life and her character's journey.
- ▪The author delayed a routine mammogram due to her focus on writing a novel.
- ▪She received a cancer diagnosis that was identical to that of her character, Alice.
- ▪The author faced difficult decisions regarding surgery options, feeling a deep connection to her character's experiences.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
I was supposed to have my mammogram months before. But I was writing a new novel—and so deeply steeped in it, gunning for my deadline, that I felt I couldn’t take the time for a routine screening. Then, in February, I got a call from the hospital’s radiology department. She told me that the mammogram I’d had that previous Saturday had shown “an area of concern” in my left breast and that I needed to come back into the hospital for further imaging. The first words out of my mouth were, “Are you sure you’ve called the right person?” I was thinking: “You meant to call Alice, not me. There’s been a mistake.”Article continues after advertisement I had just sent my new novel, The Gulf of Lions, off to my publisher.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Literary Hub.
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