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![Beautiful Affliction: A Memoir by [Lene Fogelberg]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/411DVMam-PL._SY346_.jpg)
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Beautiful Affliction: A Memoir Kindle Edition
Lene Fogelberg
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherShe Writes Press
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Publication dateSeptember 15, 2015
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File size1096 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
—BookPage
“In her breathtaking memoir, Beautiful Affliction, Lene Fogelberg elegantly unites the savagery and raw beauty of the natural world with the wisdom and poignant insight of a young wife and mother for whom each moment, whether or not she realizes it, may be her last. Exquisite imagery and poetic prose pulse through this powerful, emotionally gripping story. With Beautiful Affliction, Lene Fogelberg gives us a gorgeously written story to savor and share, while adding her shimmering, deeply intelligent voice to the literary pantheon.”
—Terri Giuliano Long, author of USA Today bestseller In Leah's Wake
“Lene Fogelberg’s memoir of living with an undiagnosed malfunctioning heart since childhood is a testament to the power of love. She allows us, the lucky reader, access to her innermost fears and guilts, offering up her story with such beautiful prose that one is enticed to linger over each word.”
—Rossandra White, award-winning author of Loveyoubye
“Gripping, powerful, touching, beautiful. A memoir about a woman who fights to remain alive because of her daughters and her husband. A story everyone can relate to and will want to read to the inspiring end.”
—Mette Ivie Harrison, author of Ironmom and New York Times Notable Book, The Bishop's Wife
“Brilliantly paced, weaving glimpses of the author's past into an ever-tightening noose that engulfs Lene and her young family in adulthood, this memoir left me as breathless as if I'd read a thriller about an unstoppable killer circling its victim. Beautiful Affliction grips the reader and won’t let go until the very last page.”
—Rita M. Gardner, author of the award-winning memoir The Coconut Latitudes
“Beautiful Affliction is an important and beautiful book about the ways in which our health impacts our lives, and the courage, strength, and healing that can result with persistence. A wonderfully honest and sincere memoir.”
—Laura Pritchett, author of Stars Go Blue and winner of the PEN USA Award
“Heart-rending and suspense-filled, Fogelberg’s Beautiful Affliction is a graceful meditation on love, marriage, motherhood, and the quotidian precious moments that make a life with young children. Fogelberg’s miraculous story is a gift to readers, both for its exquisite prose and for its humble reminder: Life is short; love deeply.”
—Laura Nicole Diamond, author of Shelter Us
“Lene Fogelberg’s story is breathtaking in all the right ways―delicately and skillfully told―and a powerful reminder that life is fragile and can only be lived one breath at a time.”
—Carol Lynn Pearson, bestselling author, poet, and playwright
“Lene Fogelberg's memoir will have even the most doubtful believing in miracles. Honest, unapologetic, inspiring, Beautiful Affliction is ultimately a testament to the sustaining power of love.”
—Ashley Warner, author of the award-winning memoir The Year After
“Beautiful Affliction is a deeply moving and important memoir about a young woman fighting for her life against all odds. It’s a suspenseful page-turner and also the work of a poet. Fogelberg's physical heart is shutting down, even as her emotional heart is filled to bursting with love―for her husband and two little girls, for her whole world that may vanish in an instant. Her breathtaking odyssey will remind the reader of the beauty, fragility, and ephemerality of life. I absolutely love this book. It was an inspiration to read, and it will stay with me for a long time.”
—Alice Eve Cohen, award-winning author of The Year My Mother Came Back and What I Thought I Knew
“Lene Fogelberg's inspiring memoir of life with a literal broken heart teaches us to recognize beauty amidst our own pain and suffering. Having also experienced complicated heart issues and a lifetime of surgeries I found myself reliving my own sacred experience.”
—Paul Cardall, #1 Billboard Pianist & Steinway Artist
“Fogelberg has crafted a literary and beautifully compelling story, which is much more than a medical mystery. It is a heartfelt and touching story about a mother who loves her husband and children and struggles with the thought of leaving them behind. Her efforts to give them a sense of her love and how she wants that love to be remembered is what makes this book a magnificent memoir that I will be thinking about for a long time.”
—Steven L. Peck, author of The Scholar of Moab and A Short Stay in Hell
“Fogelberg’s poetic sensibility shines… Vivid, heartfelt, and carefully crafted, this memoir will resonate with readers. Beautiful Affliction is more than an illness narrative; its meditations on mortality will appeal to all who love the fragile and impermanent.”
—Lucy Bryan, Rain Taxi Review of Books --This text refers to the paperback edition.
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B014QUWNNG
- Publisher : She Writes Press (September 15, 2015)
- Publication date : September 15, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 1096 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 359 pages
- Lending : Not Enabled
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Best Sellers Rank:
#331,040 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #359 in Motherhood (Kindle Store)
- #1,330 in Motherhood (Books)
- #1,649 in Parenting & Relationships (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Her use of flashbacks is very effective as she alternates chapters between her past and her present leading up to the heart surgery that saved her life. This serves to build the tension and kept me highly engaged in the story. The circumstances of her ultimate diagnosis and treatment are nothing short of a miracle.
The beauty of memoir is that we are invited into another person’s story in a way where we can connect with our own story. We are part of the story as we share in the experience, feeling the pain and rejoicing in the triumphs and the gift of life. Lene’s memoir delivers on all counts. A truly beautiful and uplifting memoir, masterfully written.
The whole journey was amazing. I felt as though I was peeking into her daily life as the writing style invited me in. It was so frustrating and painful to read about the so-called doctors (and nurses without compassion) in Sweden.
How wonderful to have been gifted the opportunity to continue raising her girls with her husband-who I am grateful for. After all, he did suggest this story. (Wink wink).
When I was a teenager, my dad had open-heart surgery and a valve replacement. Like Lene, he was born with a bicuspid valve. He had other issues different than hers, but reading the daily struggle for her was an insight into how life was for my dad. I vividly remember dancing with him once and he could only dance one dance before sitting to catch his breath. Lene writes so poetically. I really did feel like I was experiencing things along with her. The depression in her flashbacks was especially poignant because of my own post-partum depression. I got angry at her Swedish doctors and midwives, and cheered for her American doctors. I'm not sure I'll complain about any aspect of our healthcare for awhile after reading this!
I suggested this book for our book club, and tomorrow we will discuss it. I highly recommend this read for anyone. I will suggest it to my mom and dad, who have gone through the trials of heart surgery several times now. I hope Lene is writing more books!
Top reviews from other countries

Lene and Anders, plus their two young daughters, make the move from Sweden to the USA due to Anders’s job. Lene has felt unwell for almost as long as she can recall and has unknowingly got major, life threatening health problems that doctors in Sweden had written off as a bad attack of hypochondria. During their time in America Lene’s mysterious illness is eventually diagnosed and to save her life she has to undergo challenging surgery.
If you love medical drama wrapped in a truly moving love story this book should be at the top of your list. This is such a well written and beautifully crafted book. The author touches every emotion in the reader as she tells her story.




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