Voices of the soft-bellied warrior

Plot

Mary Saracino's first novel, No Matter What, published in 1994, was a semi-autobiography which exposed her family's secrets and betrayals. Shortly after the book came out, Mary began to experience an inexplicable clenching of her vocal cords.Over a four-year period she found herself increasingly unable to speak without great strain. With no apparent physical reason for her strangled voice, she delved into what she felt were its psychological and spiritual underpinnings. In 1997, the mysterious problem was diagnosed as spasmodic dysphonia, a rare, incurable, yet treatable condition. This memoir offers a personal glimpse into the author's body-mind-spirit healing journey to reclaim her voice on many levels. Through her four-year struggle, she excavated her passion for life and reclaimed her voice as a writer, and as a woman recovering from the fallout of a troubled childhood.