You are drawn into the struggle from author Don Fletcher's side, as he tries to understand and cope with what is happening to Martha. At the same time, in alternate chapters before the onset of the disease, you live with Martha an Don through adventures and challenges in the North Chilean desert while they start their family of six children; and with Martha's remarkable career as a church musician, teacher, and choral director in Mexico, Texas, Alabama, and finally back home in New Jersey. The effect of the parallel stories, ""before and after,"" is powerful and the ending poignantly serene. Don Fletcher's writing combines the sensitivity of a poet and a religious thinker, reflecting his PhD in English from Princeton University and education as a Presbyterian minister. Having grown up in Korea in a missionary family, he served the church in Chile and the Caribbean, and back in the U.S. he taught English and biblical studies at high school and college levels. Ordained 70 years ago, he still preaches and leads spiritual studies in New Jersey. His other books include Doors of Bronze: a Narrative Poem on the Passion and Triumph of Jesus; Turnings: Lyric Poems Along a Road; I, Lukas, Wrote the Book; View from the Playroom Floor; and The Gift: Looking to Jesus As He Was.