Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey
I'll admit right up front here that i got this book for free from Doubleday through a Read it Forward giveaway. I *heart* giveaways.
Every day I wish I could stay in bed. That I didn't have to go to work. That the night would linger just a little longer. After reading this book, I may change my mind.
Anna Lyndsey was just going about her life until, in 2005, she develops a severe insensitivity to light. It's called photo sensitive seborrhoeic dermatitis. I've heard of people being overly sensitive to sunlight, but I had no idea it could extend to even non-natural light sources. Her first indications that something is wrong came from her computer screen. She describes it as having someone hold a blowtorch in front of her face. As her issues develop further, her skin even gets irritated through her clothes. She literally has to block out every ray of light in order to live her life. No reading lamp beside the bed. No TV. No open windows. No light ever. Kinda makes you appreciate daylight.
The language is almost poetic as she relates her life. Eventually she is able to make small forays into the night, and the beauty she experiences from these small steps, insignificant to probably everyone else, are described in terms that echo the words of a foodie or a wine connoisseur relishing a particularly fine meal or glass of Bordeaux. She devours these moments, which are few and far between and threatened at almost every turn.
There is no happy ending. The disease continues to ravage Anna. But throughout it all, she manages to survive and find ways to make her days liveable, through the darkness and through the pain. You feel puny complaining about the everyday irritations of life after reading this book. Your life could be so much worse, but at least the world is open to you and the daylight is your friend. Through her trials, Anna Lyndsey helps the rest of us find more pleasure in the mundane.
Every day I wish I could stay in bed. That I didn't have to go to work. That the night would linger just a little longer. After reading this book, I may change my mind.
Anna Lyndsey was just going about her life until, in 2005, she develops a severe insensitivity to light. It's called photo sensitive seborrhoeic dermatitis. I've heard of people being overly sensitive to sunlight, but I had no idea it could extend to even non-natural light sources. Her first indications that something is wrong came from her computer screen. She describes it as having someone hold a blowtorch in front of her face. As her issues develop further, her skin even gets irritated through her clothes. She literally has to block out every ray of light in order to live her life. No reading lamp beside the bed. No TV. No open windows. No light ever. Kinda makes you appreciate daylight.
The language is almost poetic as she relates her life. Eventually she is able to make small forays into the night, and the beauty she experiences from these small steps, insignificant to probably everyone else, are described in terms that echo the words of a foodie or a wine connoisseur relishing a particularly fine meal or glass of Bordeaux. She devours these moments, which are few and far between and threatened at almost every turn.
There is no happy ending. The disease continues to ravage Anna. But throughout it all, she manages to survive and find ways to make her days liveable, through the darkness and through the pain. You feel puny complaining about the everyday irritations of life after reading this book. Your life could be so much worse, but at least the world is open to you and the daylight is your friend. Through her trials, Anna Lyndsey helps the rest of us find more pleasure in the mundane.
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