Babyface: A Story of Heart and Bones - Softcover

McDermott, Jeanne

3.79

73 ratings by Goodreads

9780142000335: Babyface: A Story of Heart and Bones

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142000337 ISBN 13: 9780142000335

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2001

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The riveting true story of a child, a family, and life on the outskirts of normal.

When Jeanne McDermott’s second child, Nathaniel, was born with Apert syndrome—a condition that results in a towering skull, a sunken face, and fingers webbed so tightly that hands look like mittens—she was completely unprepared for it. In this extraordinary memoir, McDermott calls on her dual roles as science journalist and mother to share her family’s traumatic yet enriching experience. Though McDermott and her family had to endure Nathaniel’s harrowing surgeries and the stares and comments of strangers and well-meaning friends, they were also transformed by the boy’s amazing strength and exuberant personality. With grace, courage, and humor, McDermott shows readers how a child with a rare syndrome can illuminate “a whole new way of seeing, not simply him and others, but ourselves.”

“Babyface is not so much about a child with special needs as it is about a normal family and what happens when life takes an unexpected turn.”—The Boston Globe

“As richly peopled as a novel . . . Jeanne McDermott has taken her education in grief and its transcendence and given it, with tenderness and even wit, to her readers.”—Rosellen Brown

“Jeanne McDermott’s dual identity as a cerebral science writer and fiercely loving mother gives her book an unusual breadth and depth, one it could never attain were she a narrower writer or a narrower human being.”—Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

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From the Publisher:

A Review...

"Babyface is yet another book that is not ostensibly written about hope. But it also is about promising new treatments-in this case, Apert syndrome, a rare genetic, craniofacial condition.

There is much more than that here, however, as evidenced in this commentary on McDermott's description of her marriage and how it was buffeted by the challenge of dealing with a child who has a genetic disease.

'No one completely understands the workings of another person's soul,' writes McDermott, a science journalist. 'But Ted and I would never give up trying, and this tenacity helped us preserve the contagious madness of love at a time when other drifted apart.'

McDermott's literary memoir recounts the harrowing succession of surgeries her son, Nathaniel, underwent to treat his condition.

Apert's often causes a malformation of the skull and deformities of the hands and feet.

Hers is 'a love story brought together through difficult circumstances,' said McDermott, now a science teacher in Boston. 'I hope this book resonates with and offers hope to anyone who struggles with some unexpected turn in life.'" --Grand Rapids Press (10/19/00)

"'In the hourless depth of the night... I grieved for the dreambaby who had died and loved the one who had been born.' In Babyface: A Story of Heart and Bones Jeanne McDermott tells of her life with the life of her second son, Nathaniel, born at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital with Apert syndrome, a rare craniofacial condition. McDermott, who has written for Smithsonian, Horticulture, and The Wall Street Journal, writes with scientific metaphor in describing aspects surrounding his life: 'lost in seaweed of tubes' and 'mission control equipment.'

The book discusses fundamental beliefs about difference and beauty; it also provides insight and inspiration to families." --ForeWord Magazine

About the Author:

Jeanne McDermott has written for the Smithsonian, Horticulture, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Science, and other publications. She was a Knight Fellow. Currently a science teacher in Cambridge, she lives in the Boston area with her husband and two children.

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