When I wrote THE FIRST TIME, a novel about a woman with a disintegrating marriage who is diagnosed with ALS, published back in the year 2000, very little was known about ALS, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. Some people knew that it was a rare auto-immune disease that makes people prisoners of their own deteriorating bodies and is usually fatal within a few years of its diagnosis; others knew that the brilliant scientist, Stephen Hawking, was one of its very few long-term survivors. But most people were blissfully unaware of its existence or the toll it takes on both its victims and those close to them. Today, thanks to the incredibly successful ice bucket challenge that went viral and has raised over 50 million dollars so far to bring attention to, and find a cure for, this dreaded disease, ALS is very much in everyones hearts and minds. THE FIRST TIME is not a book about a disease. It is first and foremost a love story. It is a novel about self-discovery and selflessness. It is not a story about sickness, but about healing. It is not a story about death. It is a story about life. The novel introduces us to Mattie Hart, whose loveless, sixteen-year-marriage to her philandering lawyer husband, Jake, has finally fallen apart. Soon after Jake leaves Mattie and their sixteen-year-old daughter to move in with his latest paramour, Mattie receives her devastating diagnosis. Feeling guilty, Jake makes the decision to move back home and try to make what remains of Matties life as happy as possible. Over the ensuing year, the family is able to resolve old issues and Jake and Mattie discover love for the first time. Its always interesting to find out what inspires a particular novel. THE FIRST TIME was inspired by a real life incident. A friend of mine was dating a widower whose wife, like Mattie, was diagnosed with an incurable disease following their divorce and his decision to move back home and do whatever he could to make her last years happy ones. When she told me about him, I thought, What an interesting man. What sort of man would do this? Then I thought about his wife and kids - how all this would affect them. I created a fictional family of my own and decided to tell it from three points of view - the husband, the wife, and their teenage daughter. I didnt want Matties disease to dominate the book, although it is omnipresent. I didnt want to spend chapters dealing with hospital visits and gruelling treatments. There are no treatments for ALS. It is almost always a death sentence. As I was writing the book, as I witnessed Jake and Mattie gradually falling in love, I found myself falling in love with both Mattie and Jake, and I desperately hoped a cure for ALS would be found before I finished the novel, so I could pull off a miraculous happy ending. Unfortunately, this was not to be. But while the ending is a definite three-tissue finale, according to Publishers Weekly, it hopefully will also, in the words of Romantic Times, leave you cheering. We cheer for Jakes growing self-awareness, for Matties courage, for the triumph of love over disease and even death. After THE FIRST TIME was published, and over the last fourteen years, I have received many letters and emails from people who have lost loved ones to this awful disease, thanking me for bringing ALS to peoples attention and for helping them understand what their loved ones were going through. This has been particularly gratifying for me. Even more gratifying will be the eradication of ALS altogether. I urge everyone to contribute to finding a cure. Maybe THE NEXT TIME someone writes a book about someone suffering from ALS, they will get the happy ending they deserve.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 14:22:44 +0000
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