Fallen

In the vein of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, Kara Stanley tells the compelling story of her husband’s life-changing brain and spinal cord injury and the role of music, science, and love in recovery.

Kara Stanley combines the heart-wrenching narrative of a catastrophic brain and spinal cord injury her husband suffered after a fall with the latest research on the brain. She also describes the transformative role of music both before and during his continuing rehabilitation and his battle to return to work as a professional musician. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Stanley and her husband, as she explores what allows a marriage to grow and thrive amid pain, chaos, and uncertainty.

Kara Stanley holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and her writing has appeared in Fugue, HipMama, and Paste. She lives on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.

"...[Stanley] has written the nitty-gritty, daily truths of what it's like to lose everything and gradually come back to a changed life." -Herizons Magazine