‘Splinters of Light’: Author finds joy in tragic tale

Imagine you are a successful 44-year-old woman. You have overcome raising your daughter alone after your husband left for a younger woman and started a new family.

Your newspaper columns have become syndicated, and you have written best-selling books. Your twin sister finally is becoming successful in her own right, and your next door neighbor is a 'friend with benefits.”

Life is grand until you realize things have started becoming fuzzy. You often find yourself 'getting stuck” and can't figure out why. After tests, the doctor reveals your diagnosis is early onset Alzheimer's disease.

Early onset Alzheimer's is a horrible disease that wrecks the minds of people still in the prime of their life.

As you follow Nora through her early stages of diagnosis, you realize this isn't going to be a happy story. We know there can't be a happy ending.

Despite advances in medicine, there is no cure for Alzheimer's.

Even though this story is sad and difficult to read, Herron has found a way for happiness and joy still to be felt among the anger and illness.

She has found a way to express the deep love between the three women in this story.

Ultimately, she has written this book, so the reader can relate to the bond between the sisters, the devotion of a mother, and the horrible disease that has come between all of it.