Beautiful Affliction
A Memoir

Brilliantly paced, this memoir left me as breathless as if I’d read a thriller about a killer circling its victim. The writing has a spare and clear rhythm. It echoes the writer’s constant struggle to escape the “riddle” that engulfs her very being from childhood to the young wife and mother she has......more

Ok, friends, this is a fantastic read. I havent’ read many memoirs in my life, but if there are more like this, it’s a genre worth exploring more. This book has the language, the emotions, the people, the love story, the problems, the excitement, everything that makes a book completely wonderful. It......more

Fogelberg has crafted a literary and beautifully compelling story about a mysterious 'monster' that is destroying her health and yet defies all medical attempts to find a cause. Once it is cast as a mental issue, no one seems interested in digging any deeper. She knows something is wrong, but no one......more

I want to say that Lene is a very lucky woman that she is alive today to share her story. What an amazing story it is. Lene was born with a heart murmur that left untreated for many years lead to a fatal congenital heart disease. One that left Lene trapped in her body with the heart of a ninety year......more

I was drawn into this book from the beginning. Before I knew the story, Lene Fogelberg’s skillful writing promised to bring me along on her journey with honesty and respect. And what a story it is. It’s about intuition, love, weakness and strength. Family, faith, heritage. And always poetry. One of......more